Double-Take

I'm getting ready to leave work, and I head to Washingtonpost.com just to check the headlines before I shut off my computer, and what do I see there on the home page?

South African Court Rules for Same Sex Marriage

My initial reaction was that it must've been some lower court ruling that would quickly be overturned by the legislature or a higher court. But no. It was the country's Supreme Court which gave the legislature one year to change the words "husband" and "wife" to "spouse." This one sentence in particular caught my eye:

"The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference said it would oppose the ruling in parliament but acknowledged that it had no prospect of stopping the legalization of same-sex marriage."

Am I reading this right? South Africa is poised to become only the fifth country in the world to recognize same-sex marriage? I'm blown away by this. The continent of Africa, along with the countries in the Middle East, are some of the most stridently opposed to homosexuality, let alone gay unions. In a whole host of countries homosexuality is punishable by death, in sometimes painful ways (stoning, hanging, etc...). I've always wanted to go to South Africa and this gives me one more reason why I should.