...it's just an entire country, a member of the EU, and 84% Catholic.

Portugal's parliament passed a bill Friday that would make the predominantly Catholic nation the sixth in Europe to permit gay marriage. Conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva is thought unlikely to veto the Socialist government's bill, which won the support of all left-of-center parties. His ratification would allow the first gay marriage ceremonies to take place in April—a month before Pope Benedict XVI is due on an official visit to Portugal.... Socrates said the measure is part of his effort to modernize Portugal where homosexuality was a crime until 1982.

It was illegal to be gay in Portugal in 1982. Sometimes you have to pause and marvel at just how much progress we've made in such a short period of time. We are winning.