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Canadian Candidates Support Same-Sex Marriages
International News Report Canadian Court Mandates Same-Sex Marriages
The British Columbia Court of Appeal, the province's top court, ruled unanimously May 1 that restricting marriage to "one man and one woman" is unconstitutional. The court gave the government a deadline of July 12, 2004, to change the law. If the government does not act, the court itself will legalize same-sex marriage beginning that day. "Civil marriage should adapt to contemporary notions of marriage as an institution in a society which recognizes the rights of homosexual persons to non-discriminatory treatment," wrote Justice Kenneth Mackenzie. The decision overturned a lower-court ruling which declared that the main goal of marriage is procreation. "I find that procreation ... resulting from sexual intercourse between a husband and wife can no longer be regarded as a sufficiently pressing and substantial objective [to justify discriminating against same-sex couples]," wrote the Court of Appeal's Justice Jo-Ann Prowse. She added, "Same-sex couples can 'have' and raise children, given technological developments and changes in the law permitting adoption." Pro-gay-marriage decisions handed down by lower-level courts in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario are currently being appealed by the federal government. A decision is expected this summer. Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms prohibits discrimination that cannot be "demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." Canadian Candidates Support Same-Sex Marriages Two of the three candidates for leadership of Canada's Liberal Party support opening full marriage to same-sex couples. The next Liberal leader will replace Jean Chretien as prime minister when he steps down in early 2004. Deputy Prime Minister John Manley and Sheila Copps, the minister of Canadian heritage, propose letting gay people marry just like straight people do. The third candidate, former Minister of Finance Paul Martin, who is the front-runner, says Canada could consider following the lead of the province of Quebec which registers straight and gay partnerships but leaves matrimony to the churches. Martin said, however, that he would not appeal any court rulings ordering legalization of gay marriage. The federal government is presently appealing decisions in Ontario and Quebec that found the ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. There are only two nations that let gay people marry exactly like straight people do, under the ordinary marriage laws: The Netherlands and, beginning in June, Belgium. Numerous nations, mostly in Europe, have comprehensive gay-partnerships laws that grant up to 99 percent of the rights and obligations of marriage. |
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A third Canadian province has ordered the federal
government to legalize ordinary marriage for same-sex
couples.