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 Canadian Reform Party Whipping Up Anti-Marriage Fever Conservatives want Marriage Defined as Union of 2 Sexes |
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By Jack Nichols
Ottawa, Canada— In the wake of last month's historic Canadian Supreme Court decision to give same-sex and opposite sex common-law relationships equal protections, a host of religious and political conservatives in both Canada and the United States are expressing their angst.
The Reverend Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, plans a protest that will include a burning—on Canadian soil-- of the Canadian flag. Phelps, whose web site, www.godhatesfags.com reflects Southern Baptist theology, complains that "Canada's Supreme Court said it's OK for fags to marry each other, thereby involving the wrath of God. Canada is a grotesque, malignant tumor sitting atop Uncle Sam's head, threatening to metastasize." Canada, he insists, "by its Luciferian, pro-gay antichristic laws & judicial decrees has forever tainted its flag." On June 28 Phelps plans, therefore, to parade at the Supreme Court Building located at Kent & Wellington Streets in Ottawa. Armed with what he calls "Gospel signs" bearing hate messages that include "God Hates Fags, Fags Doom Nations, No Fags In Heaven, No Tears For Queers, and God Gave Fags Up" Phelps plans to fly what he calls "Canada's Fag Flag" upside down and to burn it.
But the Supreme Court ruling, contrary to the Rev. Phelps' assumptions, has not yet changed the definition of marriage. Under Canadian family law, an unmarried or common-law spouse, whether heterosexual or homosexual, does not have the rights that are granted to married spouses. Some legal experts, however, believe that the Court may have paved the way for same-sex marriages. Rev. Phelps, calling the Canadian Supreme Court "godless" says that it is in "defiance of God Almighty & His revealed Word on the matter." "Why," he demands, "did these evil judges spit in God's face?" |
