(no subject)

[tamakun]

Yesterday the Supreme Court approved the Federal Goverment's proposed legislation to permit the marriage of same-sex couples in Canada.

The court said that the power to change the definition of marriage lay with the Federal Government, not the individual provinces (six provinces have already ruled in favour of same-sex marriages), and that it fits smoothly with evolution of the law.

From a religious standpoint, those who are against gay marriage cannot be forced to wed same-sex couples.

According to many, it states that the bill will be pushed through and approved in the new year when Parliament resumes in January. This will make Canada the third country to allow same-sex marriage, behind Belgium and The Netherlands.

(some notes from my paraphrasing above taken from today's Globe and Mail.)

Even here, at work, people are agreeing that with the stipulation that religious figures are not forced to marry same-sex couples when it conflicts with their morals, it's the best of both worlds.

I think this is a step in the right direction. This is not a restriction, this is a freedom for millions of people.

Welcome to Canada. :)

Comments

[angel-machine.livejournal.com]

me and kevin are a gay marriage, because we're both bi. bwaha!

[scruloose.livejournal.com]

Hell yeah!

And the disclaimer about "...cannot be forced to wed same-sex couples" hardly seems necessary. Can't a minister/priest/whoever simply pick and choose what marriages they do and don't want to perform anyway...?

[eldithia.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, technically they can, Chris. But I suspect if that clause hadn't been added, there'd be people trying to take their ministers to court for discrimination when they refused. Which might not be so bad, except that generally I think that a person should NOT perform a marriage they don't believe in. Bad charma for the marriage. Justices of the peace should possibly be an exception, as they are, so that it isn't possible to black-ball an individual marriage from the outside.

Such an interesting question, so much deeper than it looks. Does this mean a church (i.e. Anglican or Catholic or Baptist, not an individual church) can still ban same-sex marriage, even if the individual priest/minister/rabbi/officiant/whatever would like to perform the marriage? I don't much like that, but I guess that kind of thing is always the price of belonging to a denomination.

Anyhoo . . . yay, Canada!

[miagolare.livejournal.com]

well, it all gets caught up in the origin of marriage - ie a business, later sanctified by the church... and then you know, church and state got all tangled up...you know what they did in france to resolve the issue?

they decided that heterosexual marriage being the only state-sanctified household was discrimatory, not just against gays, but against say, two friends living together or two sisters. it was argued that insurance companies/governements should give benefits to people who're part of any household, not just parents/siblings.

[mindmade.livejournal.com]

hehe before you know it, canada is a second holland ;)

[eldithia.livejournal.com]

Yay, Holland! I so very, very much have to go visit the old country one of these days.

[eldithia.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, yay, Belgium, too. Being the first sensible nation and all.

[mindmade.livejournal.com]

Ofcourse I feel very sophisticated now, being 1/4 belgic and 3/4 dutch and all ;)

[eldithia.livejournal.com]

Cool. I'm no parts belgic and only 1/4 dutch, but the dutch roots are the ones I have the closest ties to, as my grandfather only came to Canada as a young man and we have cartloads of relatives still living in the Netherlands. Also, it's the side of the family I get my last name from.

[mindmade.livejournal.com]

do you speak dutch? :)

[eldithia.livejournal.com]

I wish . . . I tried to get my grandfather to teach me when I was a kid, but he wouldn't. Said it was a dying language. I said I didn't care if it was, it was HIS language, but he just gave me a sad sort of smile and changed the subject.

Now I live in Nova Scotia, and he lives in Ontario, so I guess I'll never convince him. I'm a language geek--fluent in French and Spanish, pick up bits of whatever else I can, but the best I've managed to do toward learning dutch is a beginner's course in German and a vague dream of spending some serious time in the Netherlands one of these days and figuring it out. I'm a fast study with languages, though my German's pretty non-existant now since I took it in my last year of university when I was busy with other things.

Blah . . . someday!

[mindmade.livejournal.com]

Hehe german is a very good start, all us dutchies learn german because it's easy to makea dutchie sound german... We have grammar problems, der dem den die den die das dem das die den die ;) I used to have a tutor ;)

Well most of belgium still speaks dutch as well, (usually even better than them dutchies) I'm sure it'll stay around for a while :)

[ex-wataame890.livejournal.com]

welcome indeed!