Canada approves Same Sex Marriage
Canada approves Same Sex Marriage
June 28, 2005Posted By weddings
More articles on the Weddings topic: Wedding News
CNN.com is reporting that Canada Approves Same Sex Marriages. Parliament on Tuesday approved legislation allowing same sex marriages across the country - despite fierce opposition from various politicians and religious groups.
The vote was not that close - 158-133 to support the bill. England will allow gay marriage at the end of the year, The Netherlands and Belgium already support gay marriages. Meanwhile here in the states, several states have approved constitutional ammendments banning gay marriage - thereby avoiding inevitable turnover of such laws by courts.
Eight Canadian provinces have had high courts produce rulings that Gay marriages were against Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Thousands of gay couples have already wed in Canada, even a great deal of couples from the US - even though the marriages are not recognized here at home.
Church groups have a lot to say about this, but their logic-challenged arguments consistently fail to hold water in court-rooms, especially when subjects of freedom and discrimination come into play. It's an emotional issue for many, but in the end it's difficult to imagine that a lawmaker's time is well spent differentiating between what is ok for someone who prefers a member of the same sex versus someone who prefers a member of the opposite sex.
A Marriage is a religious celebration for many, but it is also a legal encounter. If a church decides to not allow gay marriage it is one thing, and it is certainly within their right, but for a law to exist banning such an event makes the decision for all religions including those who lack religion. Imagine being attached to someone for 50 years and having no say in their medical treatment or not even being allowed to visit them in the hospital. Tax law changes with marriage - for some couples for the better, for other couples for the worse, but the fact remains that tax law changes. Spousal abuse shelters rely on government grants to keep going - should they turn away gay clients because they do not meet the requirements? There are a thousand little things like these that change when you get married. We are supposed to be graduating away from being a discriminative society, not migrating from one version of hate to another.
The real point of issue in regards to gay weddings is the fact that a legal marriage and a religious marriage have the same name and are perceived to be intertwined. If the commonly used legal term for marriage were named something different there would be no debate at all. If you think that it should be illegal because it is a sin, then I say let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
