On the back of our holiday card is a marriage equality map from Wikipedia. Despite a setback in my home Commonwealth of Kentucky, marriage equality advocates have nonetheless made surprising and unprecedented progress in 2014. And since Stewart and I have been involved in both the marriage equality (and DADT repeal) movements, we thought it important to share.
It was not, on any level, motivated by shaudenfreude. And I'm not even sure that's even possible, given the preponderance of the world map indicating a distinct lack marriage equality, and given Africa where imprisonment and at times even death for LGBT citizens have been incorporated into the legal code.
To briefly summarize the colors, navy blue are states/countries with full marriage equality, mustard means marriage equality is in some form pending (in the U.S., usually the result of a favorable court ruling followed by a stay of the ruling), and light blue/periwinkle represents a 'less-than' recognition (e.g., domestic partnerships). Interestingly, although all of Mexico is not navy blue, if you get married in those parts that are, then everywhere you go within the country it's recognized. Sort of like Arkansas is for us right now.
The map was current at the printing of our cards, with the last change being Finland, where marriage equality just passed the legislature. Here's to 2015, and hopefully more progress.
