Yesterday Kyrgyzstan had its second reading of a bill that would effectively outlaw saying good things about gay relationships, and today in the US the Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage across all 50 states.

Myself, I consider the US event a triumph of freedom of speech. The fact that both sides of the issue could be heard and discussed and weighed and refuted was what made it possible to overcome centuries of misunderstanding. The fact that many gay people came out to their families made it possible to put an individual face on what people used to think of as a monster. The fact that many did so publically made it possible not just for families but for society at large to see the same thing.

For the US and the world Friday was a very good day indeed.