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Icelandic leader in milestone gay marriage - USATODAY.com

Same sex marriage legislation became effective in Iceland last week. One of the first couples to take advantage of this new legislation was Iceland's Prime Minister 67-year-old Johanna Sigurdardottir. She wed her longtime registered partner.

The Nordic nations have a long history of acceptance of gay lifestyle including in public offices. Unfortunately, this tolerance does not rub off on neighboring countries like the Baltic nations and Russia. Elsewhere in Europe, gay acceptance varies greatly from openly gay and popular Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe (considered a contender for the 2012 French presidential election) to Latvia and Lithuania where gay pride marchers are usually outnumbered by anti-gay counter demonstrators. However, as a whole, Europe generally scores higher in gay acceptance than the United States.

The Icelandic same sex marriage caused ripples of disgust across Africa from Uganda's ruling-party spokeswoman, Mary Karooro Okurutu, describing the marriage as "disgusting" and stating "Their society is finished, they have no morals." and where Zimbabwe's leader Robert Mugabe has described same-sex partners as "lower than dogs and pigs."

Once again, America must look to Europe for leadership in equality and tolerance.

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