TORONTO (AP) — Canada's House of Commons passed landmark legislation Tuesday to legalize gay marriage, granting same-sex couples legal rights equal to those in traditional unions between a man and a woman.
The bill passed as expected, despite opposition from Conservatives and religious leaders. The legislation drafted by Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority Liberal Party government was also expected to easily pass the Senate and become federal law by the end of July.
The Netherlands and Belgium are the only other two nations that allow gay marriage nationwide.
Well...its nice to see that other countries are allowing equality and dont allow religious groups and politicians to take equality away from homosexual people.
Homophobic people make me laugh...its not a disease. You can try and take away people's rights, but you cant change who they are no matter how many times they try or say its not right.
Its again one of those things...it may not fit some people, but whose business is it to tell others that they have to be just like everyone else in order to be equal or fit into society.
Im a woman who happens to like men...but far be it from me to tell another person that they dont have the right to decide whats best for them.
Homosexuals are people too...they pay taxes, they have jobs, they do everything we do...they have every right to be able to have what everyone else is afforded!
Good job Canada...maybe someday America can catch up and allow their citizens equal rights as well!
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
Marriage is inherently religious, so I think the fairest and most logical solution would be simply to seperate Church and State. The government shouldn't recognize any marriage, gay or straight.
Dekka00 said this in post #5 : I think the fairest and most logical solution would be simply to seperate Church and State. The government shouldn't recognize any marriage, gay or straight.
I wholeheartedly agree with you!!!!
What business is it of the government?
And then there wouldn't be all this crazy banter.
Oh, but then you wouldn't get the tax benefits... poor babies.
And how to divvy the dogs and the record (CD) collections, oh yes and the children....people would have to work this stuff out themselves, and are they really capable of such responsibility in the first place...if they cannot make a marriage work???
Spain has also passed a law allowing same sex marriages. It should not really matter whats sexual orienatation people are, if they are in love and waht to be married then so be it.
Peeps have nailed it... if there was no $$$ involved, there would be no school and especially no weddings. Not only must seperate church and state, but church, state and the almighty dizz-olar.
TORONTO (July 20) - Canada legalized gay marriage Wednesday, becoming the world's fourth nation to grant full legal rights to same-sex couples.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin signed the legislation making it law, hours after it was approved by the Senate late Tuesday night despite strong opposition from Conservatives and religious leaders.
The bill gives homosexual couples the same rights as those in traditional unions between a man and a woman, something already legal in eight of Canada's 10 provinces and in two of its three territories.
The legislation drafted by Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority Liberal Party government easily passed the Senate, which essentially rubber stamps any bill already passed by the House of Commons, which passed it late last month.
The Netherlands, Belgium and Spain are the only other nations that allow gay marriage nationwide.
The law comes after years of court battles and debate that divided families, religious groups and even political allies. The Roman Catholic Church, the predominant Christian denomination in Canada, has vigorously opposed the legislation.
But Martin, a Roman Catholic, has said that despite anyone's personal beliefs, all Canadians should be granted the same rights to marriage.
Alex Munter, national spokesman for Canadians for Equal Marriage, which has led the debate in favor of the law, was triumphant Wednesday: "It is a signal to the world that Canada is an open and inclusive society that believes in the notion of full citizenship for all."
Churches have expressed concern that their clergy would be compelled to perform same sex ceremonies. The legislation, however, states that the bill only covers civil unions, not religious ones, and no clergy would be forced to perform same-sex ceremonies unless they choose to do so.
Charles McVety, a spokesman for Defend Marriage Canada and president of Canada Christian College, said he was "very sad that the state has invaded the church, breached separation of church and state and redefined a religious word."
McVety vowed his group would work to vote out lawmakers who supported the legislation in the next general elections.
"A new Parliament is going to readdress this issue and common sense ultimately will prevail," McVety said.
In the United States, Massachusetts is the only state that allows gay marriages; Vermont and Connecticut have approved same-sex civil unions.
Though hundreds of foreigners have come to Canada to seek civil ceremonies since gay marriages were first allowed in Ontario and British Columbia in 2003, not all countries or states recognize the unions.
The U.S. government does not recognize same-sex marriage, and most states refuse to acknowledge marriage certificates from gay and lesbian couples, regardless of where they wed.
Dekka00 said this in post #12 : By ROB GILLIES, AP
The U.S. government does not recognize same-sex marriage, and most states refuse to acknowledge marriage certificates from gay and lesbian couples, regardless of where they wed.
Just goes to show how backword this country is sometimes...
Why dont they just go forward and allow it?
It just cracks me up to see how some people in this country just cant handle people that are different than them.
Its time to wake up and allow equal rights to everyone....I have to say it again...this country is living in the past...time to move forward people!
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
I was afraid someone would put this thread in civil rights where it doesn't belong.
Yeah, who you decide to screw, as long as they are above the age of consent is a personal matter.....
but, when you want the society in which you live to accept this as marriage material between people of the same sex.....you don't have my permission as long as I am a law abiding, voting person.
You want to make who you screw an option at the table of public discourse, then there will be consequences....there will be people against marriage between the same sexes.
Having lived as an unabashed lesbian for over 15 years, (who the hell is counting the years), I can tell you without a doubt, yeah the pleasure of same sex sex is incredible, but the heartache, games, and self destruction are huge within the homosex community.
I don't wish that on anyone...
The reason we became homosex was because of relational, parental, and childhood problems. There is a hard number that 80% of homosexuals have been abused in one form or another during childhood. What comes with this is a huge amount of low self esteem, difficulty relating to opposite sex, and more importantly an attraction/repulsion of the same sex.
The homosexual community becomes a place of acceptance, a place to belong....and the problems and heartaches only continue.
I say it with the utmost compassion of having been there done that, having seen way too many friends, sexual partners, acquaintences ultimately destroyed by this lifestyle....walking dysfunction.....
I don't wish this "choice" on anyone.....and it does not get my vote.
Maybe it was dysfunction for you because it was a choice for you. Many homosexuals dont think of it as a choice...they just are, and knew it all their life..unlike you.
I know homosexuals that were never abused in their lifetime....I find it odd that out of all the ones I do know, that I only know the so called 20 percent in your statistic. (can you give me the source of that statistic? Im assuming its some Christian related statistic...but Ill give you the benefit of the doubt until I hear otherwise)
Im really interested in this comment though...
quote:
but, when you want the society in which you live to accept this as marriage material between people of the same sex.....you don't have my permission as long as I am a law abiding, voting person.
Sounds like Archie Bunker to me...he (as in his character, but there were plenty like him in real life) was a law abiding citizen who didnt want blacks to have rights....how many people at one time in society didnt want blacks to have any rights to vote, etc? That changed, and I dont see the fact that they eventually got to do that causing a problem in this country. People didnt want their children going to school with black children, they didnt want white people marrying blacks, but now, when people see a black kid and a white kid at school playing together...its no big deal...when people see an interracial couple with their kids, its no big deal. This isnt a problem like the old backword brainless people thought it would be back then! People in this generation accept things unlike people from the past could...and I will hope that the upcoming generation will be more accepting, than this generation, of people when they grow up.
You have argued that blacks are still prejudiced against and that they shouldnt have to deal with that (and I agree with that), but Im amazed at how you can say that one type of person should enjoy rights like everyone else, but then limit that to only people of YOUR choosing!
Just because you all of a sudden decided that it wasnt the life for you doesnt give you any right to say that gay people shouldnt have the same rights as anyone else in this society should have.
BTW...this is a civil rights issue. Its their civil right to have what everyone else is afforded...just like the civil rights movement of blacks in this country at one time. Just because you decide not to define it as such, doesnt take away the reality of it.
Wake up.
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
06-29-2005 05:19 AM
