More On Canadian Gay Marriage
Dave (Guyslink) 8 Aug 2002 at 13:33 GMT

The following submission by ADL has been copied from the UK discussion forum -

Hi Again,

Before my posting causes more off-topic debate, I'm just here to post this update for the benefit/
interest of those coupled BRers.

As I mentioned in another thread, a court in the Province of Ontario ruled that preventing gays and
lesbians to marry was contrary to the Canadian constitution because it was disciminatory. The
Federal Government is appealing this ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada. That was to be
expected.

However, the debate has now taken another interesting twist. The Prime Minister and Minister of
Justice have both announced they intend to immediately form a Parliamentary Commission and ask
Canadians how we feel about same-sex marriage. One of the options the federal government is
considering is changing the definition of marriage from a union between a man and a woman, to a
union between two people.

Given the "streeters" - those are the random samplings media do on the streets, asking people for
their opinions - the government will hear a great deal of support in favour of gay marriage. Most
Canadians have decided that to deny marriage to same sex partners is discrimination. Some people,
especially older and religious people, are having difficulty with this. That is to be expected and
appreciated as an honest questioning. There is a second group of right-wingers, lead by the
Alliance Party and the Premier of Alberta, who oppose this concept. The Premier of Alberta has said
he will use all legal means to fight this - if the feds decide to change the law, he can envoke the
Notwithstanding Clause of the Constitution which allows provinces to duck out of a federal law.
It's complicated and very Canadian, but it's the clause the Government of Quebec used to stop
providing education in English to children of immigrants.

The ins and outs of our constitution aside, this is a very interesting development. Redefining
marriage is big. But like the US Space Program, it's the societal spin offs which are even bigger
and which could eventually spread through out the Commonwealth. It will have no impact on the
Americans, other than to get some gays and lesbians to move north of the border.

There will be more on this on various websites: www.cbc.ca,
www.globeandmail.com,
www.winnipegfreepress.com,
www.montrealgazette.com,
www.nationalpost.com