(click image for larger view)
After putting the populations of nations that have marriage equality in my blog's entry about Sweden, I began to wonder, what would that look like over time... how has GLBT equality progressed? And as we plan to travel (and worry about making sure we have all the paperwork we need with us to prove our family's reality) to Turkey, Germany and the UK this summer in our first trip overseas since we came home from Germany in 2002, I began to wonder: where are our families equal... and safe. The plot above is the answer. More below the fold.
First some things about the plot:
The numbers aren't perfect (see the Excel file linked to below for more details), but it gives a general idea of the numbers of people (not just nations) in the world that live in places where GLBT citizens within those nations have full equality. Marriage equality isn't a perfect indicator of full equality, but if a nation or a people have got to the point of civil unions or full marriage equality, then more often than not they have progressed far in many other areas of GLBT equality from employment protections to sodomy laws to military service. It also indicates that a sizable portion of the populace has come to accept gay men and women as fully integrated and accepted members of their society. Of course, just because a nation doesn't have CU or marriage equality, doesn't mean it hasn't made huge progress in other areas. But I'm using it as a rough indicator of equality, and I think a good one.
The upper line is civil unions, the lower line is full marriage equality. Nations are indicated when they passed either CU or marriage equality (nations in color eventually went from CU to full equality). U.S. states are indicated by italics.
Good News: The march of equality went from 8/100ths of 1 percent of the world having some sort of marriage equality in 1989 (coincidently the year communism fell) to over 8% today.
Bad News: 92% of the world isn't at full equality for their GLBT citizens yet and in more than 30% of the world just being gay is punishable by a severe penalty from years in jail to death.
Also, generally, the more democratic and free a society, the more equal and safe it's GLBT citizens (though there are exceptions). Europe and the Americas.. Asia... sub-Saharan Africa, N.Africa/MiddleEast/Indian subcontinent. That list is a rough (very rough) line from democratic and free to dictatorial and repressive (India being an exception, also S. Africa.. there are others.. I said it was rough)... it is also the line from GLBT equality to the death penalty for GLBT citizens.
But, as the plot shows, the march of equality is progressing.
Here in the United States, it's about to make some more leaps. Three states, California, Connecticut and Maryland, with the combined population of 45 million, are about poised to possibly extend full marriage rights to it's GLBT citizens by way of court decision. California has already voted for it (though the governor vetoed). This article is a good 'state of marriage' overview.
Debate and progress towards full equality is also being made in a large number of other nations including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Poland, Taiwan and Uruguay.
So, we are making progress. (and we'll be breathing easy as we take our daughter around Europe this summer, though still making sure we have all documentation).
One thing I've gotten from this is the absolute best way to further GLBT equality is to strengthen and extend the health, well-being, democracy and the openness and freedom of a society. And GLBT equality is also a symptom of the economic an democratic progress of a nation.
roughly.
So, here's to hoping we'll be able to fight off all that ails this world (global warming, war, poverty, disease, religious fanaticism) and continue to progress, all of us.
(If you see any mistakes or additions or changes... PLEASE let me know. I'm going to keep this up AND if you want the, you can download it at this link: Download file. It's an excel file and you can distribute, modify, add to as you see fit. Though I'd appreciate a link back to my blog if you do :).
(Crossposted to Daddy Papa and Me and Pam's House Blend.
(CU and marriage data and map graphic from: http://en.wikipedia.org/... other data from http://esa.un.org/... and http://www.factmonster.com/...