SAME-SEX MARRIAGES IN CANADA
Reactions to the passage of
Bill C-38 in the House of Commons
Sponsored link.
In this essay, "SSM" means "same-sex marriage." "MP" means
Member of Parliament.
Background:
2005-JUN-15, 87% of Canadians lived in a province or
territory which has already made SSM available to same-sex couples as a result
of court rulings. On JUN-23, SSMs were legalized in in New Brunswick. Fewer than 10% of the Canadian population
then lived in areas of Canada where there was no access to SSM.
By 2005-JUN-15, Bill C-38 -- which would legalize SSM for all Canadians --
had been reviewed by a House committee, and was being returned to the House for
the third reading and final vote. On JUN-28, during an extended spring session,
the House passed the bill by a vote of 158 to 133. It now proceeds to the
Senate.
Some of the press' reporting of C-38 has been of unusually low quality:
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A surprising number of news reports stated that SSM had become the law
of the land as a result of the bill's passage in the House of Commons. In
fact, it must be passed by the Senate and signed into law by the Governor
General before the 10% of Canadians who live in provinces or territories
where SSM is not currently available will be able to enter into a SSM. |
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Some news reports implied that the all Conservative Party Members of
Parliament and all religious leaders opposed the bill. In reality, some
members of all political parties opposed C-38. Also, many liberal Christian,
Jewish and Muslim religious leaders supported the bill. |
Reaction to the passage of the Bill in the House:
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Curious errors seem to have crept into many media reports on the passage
of C-38 in the House of Commons. Some information sources have claimed that
SSM is now legal. The Canadian Press chose the heading: "Canada approves
same-sex marriage." A picture caption reads: "Canada becomes the
third country to legalize gay marriage." There are a number of errors
here:
 |
Same-sex marriage is not the law in Canada. AS of the end of June,
2005, there are still two provinces and two territories in which
same-sex couples cannot marry. |
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Even if the Senate passed C-38, and it was signed into law, Canada
would not be the third country to legalize SSM. Belgium, Holland, and
Spain already have SSM. |
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The term "gay marriage" is not accurate. Many same-sex couples have
one or two spouses with a bisexual orientation. 17 |
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 Prime Minister Paul Martin said in the House of Commons: "I rise in
support of a Canada in which liberties are safeguarded, rights are protected
and the people of this land are treated as equals under the law....The facts are plain: Religious leaders who
preside over marriage ceremonies must and will be guided by what they
believe. If they do not wish to celebrate marriages for same-sex couples,
that is their right." 1 | |
 Charles McVety, a spokesman for Defend Marriage Canada -- a
SSM-negative group -- and president of Canada Christian College,
said: "I fear radical social change thrust upon a nation that is not
asking for it."
1 On another occasion, he said: "It's a sad
day...The great institution of marriage that has built this civilization and
the foundation of our society has been defiled by our Parliament. And that
is sad. It's sad for our children. It's sad for our grandchildren. It's sad
for the young people. I have a seven-year-old daughter. When she comes of
age to be married, will we still have marriage as we know it?" 16 | |
Alex Munter, national coordinator of Canadians for Equal Marriage,
a SSM-positive group, said: "I think this is going to be a proud and
exciting day to be a Canadian because we are, once again, affirming to the
world that we are a country that is open, inclusive and welcoming."
1 | |
Jim
Hughes, president of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) and vice-president
of International Right to Life -- two pro-life groups -- was asked
what his reaction is to those MPs who voted in favor of C-38 responded: "I
would say to those MPs, you have let down Canadian society. You’ve taken us
further down the slippery slope and you’ve opened up the possibilities of
people marrying their siblings, their children. You’ve opened the doors to
polygamy. You’ve now taken away from children in school their innocence by
now forcing the teaching of anal and oral sex in the classrooms. You are an
embarrassment to the country." Hughes criticized Canadian faith groups
for their lack of leadership on SSM. He said: "...there has been very
little and very weak spiritual leadership and very little spiritual
formation on the major issues of the day. The churches and other faith
institutions and places of worship have turned a blind eye and haven’t
addressed the major issues of the day and have been more concerned, just as
the general electorate is, about the bottom line, making sure that the
church financial situation is healthy. And, of course, it’s a always a
prudential thing to be concerned about expenditures, etc., but many times
pastors have told me that their boards, their parish councils, etc. were not
so much concerned about their outspokenness on these crucial issues when the
church financial situation was very healthy. If the parish financial
situation wasn’t healthy, however, and the pastors were speaking out
strongly, forcefully, in defense of life and family, they were quickly
censored by their boards." 2 | |
Egale Canada stated in a news release: "In a generation, Canadians will
look back on a time when lesbian and gay people were denied full
citizenship, just as we look back on the days when women or Aboriginal
people could not vote or times when Canadian citizens were interned because
of ethnic origin. We will talk about these days and this battle. We will be
proud, as Canadians, that we rejected rejection, that we ended exclusion,
that we said to LGBT people: there are no second-class Canadians, lesbian
and gay people are full members of the community, without caveat or
exceptions. We will long remember this proud day. We can all be proud to be
Canadian." 3 | |
Roman
Catholic bishop emeritus (retired) Pearce Lacey of Toronto said he was: "...deeply
saddened....although many say 'I’ve given it my best shot and look what's
happened', obviously we haven’t given our best shot. We still have our work
cut out for us." He suggested that God is telling Christians to "be
more intense in our prayer life, to be more sacrificial..." He suggests
that the intense prayer undertaken so far "has in all likelihood
restrained the punishing hand of God [at a time] perhaps worse than any
other time...How patient He (God) must be, how loving He must be and this is
the God we trust....The one thing we shouldn’t do is lose hope. I mean, time
moves by very quickly. The Paul Martins of this world will die, and they
will have to face the God who gave them life, the same as each one of us.
And he’s had his time in the sun, and he certainly hasn’t done a very good
job....some day the Paul Martins of this world will have to face up to a
judgment that will be far, far more damaging and far more vigorous...I pity
Paul Martin. I don’t wish evil on anybody. But Paul Martin has got a great
judgment ahead of him, a judgment that I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.
Imagine, the leader of a country, who has the responsibility of really
giving the kinds of strong direction and leadership to his people, and then
to flunk, to literally fail is a very, very serious indictment on him."
4 | |
Roberta Sklar, a spokesperson for the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force in the U.S. said: "We know that it has been somewhat
contentious in Canada, but at the same time the Canadians have largely
approached this issue in a rational and democratic way and are providing a
very positive model for the rest of the world." 5 | |
Douglas Farrow, associate professor of
Christian thought at McGill University in Montreal, suggests that Bill C-38
is "illicit legislation, the binding nature of which must be contested."
He recommends that the Canadian public not recognize same-sex marriage, even
if it is the law of the land. He notes that "...the preamble to the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognizes that our system of law
belongs to the classical tradition, by explicitly linking belief in the rule
of law to belief in the sovereignty of God....And on the classical view the
state has no authority or power, in either its legislative or its judicial
arm, to alter the fundamental meaning of marriage or to make the family as
such a creature of the state...No Canadian, then, is obliged to submit to
the view that the meaning of marriage or the shape of morality is something
that is, or may be, determined by a vote in the Commons."
He recommends that:
|
Clergy refuse to marry same-sex couples.
When they marry opposite-sex couples, they should use the old
bride/groom forms, even if the province or territory rejects them and
the couples being married end up in legal limbo. |
|
People should freely speak out against
same-sex marriage, their view of the nature of homosexuality, etc. |
|
"Parents and communities should refuse
to submit to orders and decrees respecting the care and education of
children, if those orders are explicitly based on C-38 or otherwise
infringe on natural parental rights." We are not certain what this
means. |
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Oppose attempts by the public schools to
teach that same-sex marriages are normal. |
|
Promote a constitutional amendment to
restrict marriage to one man and one woman. 6 |
| |
A rather sarcastic political cartoon appeared in the Whig Standard, a
Kingston ON newspaper. It showed a young child with a finger up his nose,
wearing a T-shirt whose top two lines said "NO GAY..." Beside him were a
number of sad looking adults carrying signs like "No Same-Sex Marriage"
and "Keep gays out of marriage." The Parliament buildings were in the
background. A man dressed in a suit said: "The debate is over. Go home"
A woman with a megaphone told the small crowd: "Be sure to come back when
we target the next group of marginalized people seeking greater civil
rights." 9 | |
David
Krayden, spokesperson for the Defend Marriage Coalition said: "Things
might look dark to some people today, but we do have the beginnings of a new
broader-based political coalition in Canada. The social conservatives really
have been a sleeping giant for years in this country. Paul Martin's woken
them up." 7 | |
The Right Rev. Dr. Peter Short, Moderator of the United Church of Canada
wrote: "In the Gospel According to Mark, Jesus says, 'The Sabbath
was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath.' If Jesus
could say this of the deeply moral Sabbath, how much more might it be said
of marriage? 'Marriage was made for humankind, and not humankind for
marriage.' Said that way, the truly moral dimension of the question
emerges into the light. The question is not, 'Which sexual orientations
have the right to marriage?' The question is, 'Who is a human being?'
Who is the real, full, true human being for whom marriage is made? The moral
issue here is not sex but love. Love is judged not by its object but by its
own inner qualities; that is, love's faithfulness, kindness, patience,
goodness, sacrifice, compassion, courtesy, and perseverance. The moral issue
is our will to love one another. Beneath that moral issue lies the
foundational demand to recognize the humanity of one another. The great
enemy of truly moral love is not sex but fear. As Canadians live into the
surprising new world this legislation has opened to us, we may begin to see
that our civic morality has not been cast aside; rather, it is deepening and
maturing." 11 | |
Joseph
Ben-Ami, executive-director of the Institute for Canadian Values said
that religious conservatives will continue to fight against
same-sex marriage,
abortion access, choosing assisted suicide,
and the new national child care plan. He said: "We're frustrated, but the
battle is going to go on." 8 | |
Marie Clarke Walker, executive vice-president of the Canadian Labour
Congress wrote: "For over two years, Canadian workers and their unions
have been urging Parliament to get on with it because one after another,
courts across Canada have been affirming equal marriage. Canadian unionized
workers long ago recognized the equality questions raised by this issue and
have a proud history of standing up for same-sex relationships.... Two weeks
ago in Montreal, at the Canadian Labour Congress' triennial convention, the
2,000 delegates had, once again, called on the federal government to
immediately pass this law to recognize equal marriage. We urge the Senate to
move quickly because any further delay becomes an unacceptable weakening of
equality rights." 12 | |
Charles McVety, president of the Canada Family Action Coalition (CFAC)
wrote: "One year ago yesterday, Canadians elected what they thought was a
predominantly pro-marriage parliament. The fact is, if all those MPs who
campaigned on a pro-marriage platform would be voting in accordance to their
promise – this Bill would be defeated. People like Joseph Volpe and many
others made very specific promises to the people who elected them, and
yesterday these MPs not only voted to destroy marriage, they voted in
violation of the trust given to them by their own constituents. If you can’t
trust an MP to deliver on a promise as specific and important as marriage,
what promise can you ever trust him with? These MPs in particular are
deserving of defeat in the next election." 8 | |
R. Douglas Elliott, a Toronto lawyer and president of the International
Lesbian and Gay Law Association said: "We are the only jurisdiction
in the world that allows marriage without a residency requirement. Equal
marriage is going to become Canada's leading export in the next couple of
years." 13 | |
Brian Rushfeldt Executive Director of CFAC said: "CFAC is also concerned
about the deceptive promises of Mr. Martin and Mr. Cotler, who know
perfectly well that this bill will provide NO protection for any religious
person, leader or layperson. The Supreme Court has already stated that the
federal government has no jurisdiction over religious freedoms with this
law. Will it now be illegal for parents to teach their children that
marriage is between one man and one woman? Will schools be forced to teach
children that homosexual behavior and same-sex marriages are normal and
healthy? Will individuals who express an opinion in support of traditional
marriage, especially outside the doors of a church, be hauled before human
rights tribunals?....Social norms do not automatically change just
because some new law is enacted. A huge majority of Canadians will not teach
nor allow their children to be deceived by false ideologies about marriage.
The man /woman definition of marriage will continue to prevail in Canada IF
the majority of citizens continue to defend it. And I believe that all MPs
who voted to re-define marriage will pay a heavy penalty in the next
election." 8 | |
Liberal MP Michael Savage said: "I have not
compromised my faith in supporting this legislation. I have embraced it. The
fact that we (in Canada) are among the first is not something we should
hide. It's something we should celebrate...[We are] a nation of equality. A
nation of strength. A nation of compassion. A nation that believes we're
stronger together than we are apart. And a nation where we celebrate
equality...We will send a statement to the world that in Canada gays and
lesbians will not be considered second-class citizens." 14 | |
The Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF)
the pro-life and anti-SSM arm of the Canadian Conference of Catholic
Bishops issued a public statement expressing its disappointment in the
House Legislative Committee which reviewed the bill. They noted that the committee
issued its final report less than 48 hours after hearing the last witness.
They suggest that the committee was not particularly interested "in the
words of those individuals and groups who came in good faith to express
their differing views and propose valuable amendments to Bill C-38."
They also expressed concern for the children of same-sex couples. They
wrote: "We are also very troubled by the lack of consideration of this
bill for the needs of Canadian children, who are best nurtured by a mother
and a father. Children have the right to know their biological parents and
to be educated by them. We know the suffering of many who are deprived of
this possibility. Mother and father play different and complementary roles
with their children. This complementarity and educational interaction
between mother and father are crucial to the children’s growth, and to the
formation of their personality." They ask the Senate to gut the bill: "COLF
insists with the members of the Senate that they propose amendments to Bill
C-38 to counter the dramatic erosion of the matrimonial institution in
Canada by preserving its historical definition as the societal norm."
10 | |
Perhaps the best support for SSM is seen in
the over 6,000 same-sex spouses who have already married in one of eight
provinces or the Yukon where courts have made SSM available. 15 |
Related essay in this section:
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References used:
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"Canada Likely to Legalize Gay Marriage," Associated Press,
2005-JUN-27, at:
http://start.earthlink.net/
-
"Canadian National Pro-Life Leaders Says 'lack of spiritual leadership'
Has Been Major Obstacle to Achieving Success in Life And Family Issue Battles,"
LifeSiteNews, 2005-JUN-28, at:
http://www.lifesite.net/
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"Canadiansn [sic] for Equal Marriage Press Release," Egale Canada,
2005-JUN-28, at:
http://www.egale.ca/
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"Canadian Bill C-38 Final Passage Eerily Coincides With Sodom and
Gomorrah Readings at Catholic Masses," LifeSiteNews, 2005-JUN-28, at:
http://www.lifesite.net/
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Beth Duff-Brown, "Canada lawmakers approve gay marriage bill,"
Associated Press, 2005-JUN-29, at:
http://hosted.ap.org/
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Douglas Farrow, "Why and How Canadians Should Refuse to Recognize C-38," LifeSiteNews, 2005-JUN-26, at:
http://www.lifesite.net/ This is a PDF file. You may require software to read it. Software can be obtained free from:
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Peter O'Neil and Tim Naumetz, "MPs will pay for supporting same-sex bill.
Religious right: Conservative Christians concede the battle is lost, but say the
war will go on," 2005-JUN-25, at:
http://www.canada.com/
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"CFAC Vows to Continue Defending Traditional Marriage," Canada Family
Action Coalition, 2005-JUN-28, at:
http://www.familyaction.org/
- Editorial page, Kingston Whig Standard, Kingston ON, 2005-JUL-02, Page 6.
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"Reaction of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family To the
Adoption of Bill C-38," COLF, 2005-JUN=30, at:
http://www.cccb.ca/
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Peter Short, "Take a Deep Breath—True Marriage Will Still Be the Same,"
Globe and Mail newspaper, 2005-JUN-29. Online at:
http://www.united-church.ca/
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"Equal Marriage: the House of Commons Did the Right Thing!," Canadian
Labour Congress, 2005-JUN-29, at:
http://www.canadianlabour.ca/
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Doug Struck, "Same-Sex Marriage Advances In Canada. House of Commons
Approves Measure," Washington Post, 2005-JUN-29, at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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Alexander Panetta, "We will send a statement
to the world that in Canada gays and lesbians will not be considered
second-class citizens," Canadian Press, 2005-JUN-28, at:
http://www.ilga.org/
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"Canadian Commons Passes Gay Marriage Bill," 365Gay.com, 2005-JUN-28,
at:
http://www.365gay.com/
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Alexander Panetta, "Historic Commons vote paves way for same-sex marriage
across Canada," Yahoo! News Canada, 2005-JUN-29, at:
http://news.yahoo.com/
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Alexander Panetta, "Canada approves same-sex marriage," Canadian
Press, 2005-JUN-28, at:
http://www.canada.com/
Copyright © 2005 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2005-JUL-12
Author: B.A. Robinson
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