And while we're on the subject of SSM ...

While we're all waiting for the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal to give these idiots the ass kicking they deserve, it's worth revisiting the surprising National Post editorial on that topic which was, against all odds, logical and coherent, and worth reading carefully for three reasons.

First, it's the National Post. That's right, Canada's normally reliable right-wing steno pool, telling all those whiny, Christian marriage commissioners to shut the hell up and do their job or fuck off and find other employment. That's fascinating since, on the occasions when every other media outlet in Canada is acting sane, the NP can normally be counted on to promote the hard-right, inane, idiotic, bereft-of-logic party line. But when even the Post abandons the drooling, lunatic Christ-o-sphere, well, that's just plain awkward.

Second, it's enlightening to realize that the Post not only came to the correct conclusion, they did it for the right reasons. This is actually noteworthy since experience teaches us that, even when the residents of Lower Wankerville have the right opinion, they frequently hold that opinion for the most eye-rolling, illogical reasons. One almost expected the Post to tell marriage commissioners to resign in protest, not because it's the right thing to do, but because mass resignation would throw marriage plans into an uproar and that would teach those Godless humanists, or something equally stupid. But no! Astonishingly, the Post used actual critical thought and logic to arrive at that conclusion. Will wonders never cease? But that's not the best part.

No, the best part is that the Post editorial did not just reject the Christopaths' argument on this topic. They stomped on it. They crushed it. They ground it into powder. Witness, if you will, the utter lack of ambiguity or weaselitude on the part of the Post, as it lays the freedom of conscience argument's nads gently on an anvil, and pounds them flat (all emphasis nad-flatteningly added):

Marriage commissioners have no right to say no

... [marriage commissioners] must follow the government’s rules when they execute their duties...

They may either adapt to the new same-sex-inclusive rules or quit performing civil marriages altogether. There can be no picking and choosing whose ceremonies they will officiate...

Once the government has decided that gays have as much right to marry as heterosexuals, it clearly is a violation of their human rights for a civil commissioner to turn them down...

Gay couples must have the same protection once the federal Parliament has granted them equal rights.

Note well the utter lack of waffling or weaseling or any of the lame attempts at compromise or accommodation proposed by Canada's culture of professional victimhood. That Post editorial does not provide even the smallest hint of a shred of a whisper of hope for anyone looking for a hook on which to hang their homophobic arguments. It's direct, brutal and savage, and makes no apologies for taking that Bible-fueled discrimination out to the woodshed, and beating the living crap out of it.

All that's left is to see whether the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal can demonstrate that kind of clear thinking and integrity, or whether it will cave trying to find some useless middle ground that still fucks over gays while soothing the furrowed brows of bigoted marriage commissioners and allows them to keep feeling good about themselves.

And so, we wait.