Same-sex legislation passed (Canada)

[CHIMO]

Same-sex legislation passed
Last Updated Tue, 28 Jun 2005 21:07:41 EDT
CBC News

The Liberals' controversial same-sex marriage legislation has passed final reading the House of Commons, sailing through with a vote of 158 for and 133 against.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/06/28/samesex050628.html

[maddezmom]

1. good, finally some good news today

:thumbsup: to Cananda

[Maple]

2. YESSSSSSSSS!

Hooohaaaaaaa!

[Amonester]

3. Equal civil rights for all taxpayers!

:applause:

[sybylla]

4. Congrats, my liberal neighbors

You've done well and I hope your country's acceptance will spread to the south.

:toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast:

[LeftCoast]

5. This is wonderful news!

Hopefully California won't be far behind!

[Ekirh]

6. WOOT WOOT I SAY

Talking to a Canadian friend of mine right now and she is fuckint thrilled at this...

WOOT... WOOT I SAY AGAIN!!!! CONGRATS...

[ailsagirl]

7. Canada is so cool-- they keep up with the times.

Actually, they're probably ahead of the times.

[Catfight]

8. Wonder why 133 were against equality and tolerance? nt

[Beaver Tail]

9. About Time

There is NO reason homosexuals can't suffer like us hetrosexuals

[HamiltonHabs32]

10. conservatives

they think gay people are icky

[Maple]

11. Most of them

are SoCons...social conservatives. Religious rightwing.

[applegrove]

19. Right wing that now claims our prime minister is evil while they use

hate and hatred for gays & lesbians to try to build their neocon base. And then they lie about their policies to try to get elected. And they cry like babies when they don't get to have an election called on some scandal (that didn't touch the present government) because they know that is the only election they can win...one that has nothing to do with the issues of governance like health care and an adequate transfer of wealth from rich to government who then dole it out in descent schooling and safer cities.

[customerserviceguy]

20. The Catholic church

hates this with a passion, and there are a lot of pockets of Catholicism in Canada. Watch Pope Bennie tell priests to deny communion to Catholic lawmakers who might have voted for equal marriage.

[iverglas]

24. they've tried it

Various RC clerics have tried denouncing the Prime Minister, including the excommunication crap and so on, and nobody pays any attention.

In the 2001 census, 43% of Canadians self-identified as Roman Catholic (down from 45% in 1991) -- largely because of the relatively homogenously RC francophone population of Quebec and in the rest of Canada, and also because of disproportionately RC immigration (Haiti, French Africa, Indochina, Europe). ("No religion" was 16% nationally, up from 12% in 1991.)

http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Analytic/companion/rel/canada.cfm

However, the Roman Catholicism of generations born since 1950 in Quebec is pretty nominal.

It was Quebec juries in the 1970s who refused to convict Dr. Henry Morgentaler of violating the Criminal Code provision that required certification of medical necessity before performing abortions. More people in Quebec (including couples with children) cohabit without marrying than anywhere else in Canada. Quebec has had formal "civil union" arrangements for same-sex couples for several years. And the Quebec courts, like courts in most other provinces in the last few years, required the provincial government to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples, and it did.

The constitutional division of powers here is rather confusing. The federal govt has jurisdiction over "marriage and divorce". Marriage, to ensure a uniform set of rules throughout the country (things like the prohibited degrees of relationship), and divorce, because when that part of the Constitution was adopted (1867), the only way to get divorced was by an Act of Parliament. The provinces have jurisdiction over "the solemnization of marriage in the province", i.e. the formalities of getting married, including licences.

It was the provincial rules that were challenged in the courts, when the provinces refused to issue licences to same-sex couples. Once that rule was struck down, the provinces had just gone along on the assumption that there was no federal rule to prohibit same-sex couples from marrying. The bill passed last night formalizes that assumption, by formally recognizing that "marriage" extends to all couples.

Anyhow, to get back to our sheep, the RC church is pretty much sidelined on this. Most Canadians who are RC are just like anybody else when it comes to contraception, abortion, divorce, cohabiting, etc., in their personal lives.

The RC church, other than those few extremist clerics, hasn't been in the forefront of this debate. It's been the fundie types, and notably (this being where we differ from the situation in the US) fundies from a variety of religions other than Christianity, and from certain ethnic groups within the christian churches. One thing that was great to see, a few months ago when the Supreme Court was considering the constitutional reference on the fed govt's power to enact this legislation, was the guy from the Chinese Canadian National Council who pulled no punches when he said how Chinese Christians were being exploited and manipulated by right-wing interests.

Life here will now just go on. ;)

[mzmolly]

12. Congrats to Canada!

:toast:

[ruggerson]

13. Thank you Canada

And may the United States follow in your footsteps sometime in the next millenium.

[tuvor]

14. A good Paul Martin quote:

The "vote is about the Charter of Rights," said Martin.

"We're a nation of minorities, and in a nation of minorities you don't cherry-pick rights."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/06/28/samesex050628.html

[sabra]

15. Canadian parliament approves same-sex marriage

<<SNIP>>
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8921006

Canadian parliament approves same-sex marriage
Tue Jun 28, 2005 09:19 PM ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian Parliament on Tuesday approved legislation to allow same sex marriages across the country, making Canada only the third nation in the world to permit such unions.
Despite fierce opposition from conservatives and religious groups, legislators voted by 158-133 to back the legislation drawn up by the minority Liberal government.

Most Canadian provinces already allow same-sex marriages, and Canada has become a popular wedding destination for gay couples from countries where these unions are not allowed.

The government said it had to act after courts in eight of the 10 provinces ruled that a ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional because it violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The new rules are in stark contrast with what is happening in the United States, where President Bush wants Congress to back a constitutional amendment that would ban same sex marriages.

<</SNIP>>

[VegasWolf]

16. Why do the religious always get their panties tied in a knot over

gay weddings?

[Minstrel Boy]

21. Canada's largest Protestant denomination supports same-sex marriage.

The United Church of Canada (formed in 1925 by an almagam of Methodist and Presbyterian churches), has been a leading advocate for gay rights and same sex marriage - and social and economic justice for all - for years. (Check out its page on justice issues.)

In Canada, the "social gospel" of the Left has been the principal tradition for public expression of Christian faith. Many of the founders of our socialist party, the NDP, were also Ministers, including Tommy Douglas, the father of our public health-care system (and voted "Greatest Canadian"). MP Bill Blaikie, who finished second in the last leadership race, is also a United Church Minister. In an address to United Church divinity students, Blaikie said:

"As a Christian on the left I would want to argue, for instance, that there is a vast realm called ‘the economy’, and all the values and practices that it explicitly and implicitly reinforces, that should be judged, in the Christian mind, by whether or not it conforms to the teachings of Jesus Christ, whether any false gods, like the market, are worshipped therein, whether the poor and the oppressed are given priority, and whether, environmentally speaking, creation is being looked after."

From a church press release yesterday:

United Church Urges Parliament to Vote in Favour of Same-Sex Marriage Legislation

Monday, June 27, 2005

Toronto: In a statement released today, The United Church of Canada has called on the Canadian government to move in a timely way to end the debate on Bill C-38 and to vote in favour of same-sex marriage legislation.

"Marriage will be enhanced, not diminished, religious freedom will be protected, not threatened, and Canadian society will be strengthened, not weakened, as a result of this legislation," says Richard Chambers of the Justice, Global and Ecumenical Relations Unit.

Chambers says that further rancorous debate over this issue will only serve to polarize positions rather than contribute to building a strong civil society based on the values of inclusion, diversity, mutual respect, and fairness.

http://www.united-church.ca/news/2005/0627.shtm

[iverglas]

26. religious freedom

As some in the debate in the House pointed out: what about the religious freedom of the United Church (my alma mater) and the Metropolitan Community Churches and the Quakers (and, I assume, the Unitarian/Universalists, and some Presbyterians ...) to perform the marriages that they are mandated by THEIR religion to perform??

Bill Siksay, the gay NDP MP who replaced gay NDP MP Svend Robinson in British Columbia (and who made a point, in debate, of personally thanking all MPs who were defending his rights by supporting the bill), was interviewed on CPAC following the vote. He pointed out that his partner is a United Church minister. I was a little surprised that the interviewer didn't come right out and ask him whether he's going to get married, but the interviewer seemed to be lobbing from a slightly biased position ... in favour of the legislation. ;)

It reminded me of a couple of old friends of mine. She's an old Maoist who did a divinity degree and was angling for the Anglican priesthood. He's Jewish, and of the feminist-friendly lefty peace-now persuasion. She figured that the Anglican Church could live with her cohabiting without marriage, and could live with her being married to a Jew, but just might not get past her cohabiting with a Jew without being married. ;)

I don't imagine that the UCC congregation in question will give a toss whether its minister gets married or not, but I wonder whether there might be a little pressure on same-sex couples to marry, generally, from gay-friendly churches that obviously do still hold marriage in some regard. That'd be an irony, eh?

[maddezmom]

17. dupe

Same-sex legislation passed (Canada)
http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1590206

[sabra]

18. oops, thanks.

[maddezmom]

25. it was worth a dupe

:D

[Dickie Flatt]

22. prepare for decadence

[Kenergy]

23. Canada rocks! n/t