Except...

This past May 3rd, the Canadian military held its first same-sex marriage: two men, a medic and a flight technician, were married at CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia. I first read about it in an article in last week's Halifax Daily News (June 15th edition), but since that newspaper charges a fee to access their archives, I'll instead link to the CBC's truncated and superficial little piece.

Unfortunately, the CBC blurb omits an important quote that was in the newspaper article I read--and, in fact, provided the impetus for my post today. These are the words of Lieutenant-Commander David Greenwood, a padre at the base (emphasis mine):

There was a certain amount of anxiety because you never know--the first time--if you're going to have protesters or anything like that. But that didn't happen. We were very, very pleased with the service ... it was a wedding like any other wedding, except the couple never thought that was going to happen during their lifetimes.

Yeah, except. Both the article and the CBC report skim over the significance of that qualifier. Globally, this event is almost unique: not only is gay marriage permissible in only two other national jurisdictions, but the military is one of the only institutions more tradition-bound and prone to internalized homoeroticism (and concomitant homophobia) than the church. The Canadian Armed Forces, everyone at CFB Greenwood and especially the happy couple should all be proud of themselves for setting an important and optimistic precedent.

On a related note, Stéphane LeBlanc offers some insight into the challenges which openly-gay MNA André Boisclair may face from within his own party as he vies for the PQ leadership.