European unions.

Score another one for Europe in the fight to grant gay men and lesbians the legal and financial benefits of marriage.

The United Kingdom is joining such neighboring European Union countries as Belgium, the Netherlands, and France in instituting some form of recognition for gay couples. Although not technically marriage, the Brits' plans are definitely more progressive than anything currently found in the United States--excepting Vermont and Massachusetts.

At the end of March the British government introduced the Civil Partnership Bill, which allows same-sex couples to make record of their partnerships and gain such rights as pension benefits and parental protections and care for children. It also includes prescribed come directives for couples who decide to break up. By some estimates 42,000 British gay couples will be recognized by the year 2050. Individual parliaments across the United Kingdom, including Scotland's, have started adding the bill to their body of law.

In Spain newly installed prime minister Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero--who has publicly bashed the Bush administration for the Iraq war--has vowed to legalize marriage for gay couples, which would grant them full equal protection under Spanish law. His election-year promise could soon become a reality, although the country's Catholic base is getting fired up.

In February the E.U. parliament called on all of its member slates to recognize gay unions. In fact, the push for gay marriage and greater social equality is largely being driven by the European Commission. One reason is that the governing body wants to cut down on the number of civil rights complaints that could be filed by citizens against certain countries, says Roger Lancaster, director of the cultural studies program at George Mason University in Virginia.

So why does the United States seem so far behind Europe on the issue of granting marriage rights to same-sex couples? "The easy answer is that the religious right is far, far more powerful here than in any other industrial democracy," Lancaster says. In addition, "Those other countries that have found ways to accommodate gay relationships almost all have strong laborite, social democratic, or socialist traditions."