Canadian Court Says Yes
Dave (GuysLink) 12 Jul 2002 at 20:34 GMT

The following message was posted on the uk board, by adl, but I felt it deserved a place here too.
For more info, check out -
http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/
07/12/samesex020712

Dave.
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The Supreme Court of Ontario has just ruled that gay marriage is not illegal. The court says banning
gays and lesbians from marrying is contrary to the Canadian Constitution and Charter of Rights.

The Court has given the Province of Ontario 24 months to change their laws and accommodate gays and
lesbians who wish to marry. This is a massive ruling, and will, no doubt, be challenged in the
Supreme Court of Canada.

This ruling came when a gay and lesbian couple found a loop-hole in Ontario's marriage laws.
Typically, we haven't been able to get a marriage license. However, the Metropolitan Church got
around the license problem by posting the bands. This allowed the couples to have a chuch-
sanctioned marriage ceremony and put the province between a rock and a hard place. That's how it
managed to get to court on this different footing.

Ontario is the most populated province in Canada. While provinces can have nuances to their
provincial laws, they cannot vary on how they handle human rights issues. This ruling means that
laws against same-sex couples marrying have been wiped out from sea to sea to sea in Canada. We
still have the Supreme Court to get past, but given how all the courts have been ruling lately, I
think this is a cause that those gays and lesbians who want to marry, have won.

Monitor this on CBC.CA and www.theglobeandmail.com