Same-sex marriage has been legal in Ontario since June 2003. It gradually spread to other provinces as provincial courts declared that laws prohibiting same-sex marriage were unconstitutional. By June 2005, same-sex marriage was legalized in eight provinces and one territory.
The House of Commons passed The Civil Marriage Act (Bill C-38) on June 28, 2005 by a vote of 158-133. This law made same-sex marriage legal in all of Canada. (Alberta had been the major holdout against same-sex marriage.)
Recently, the new Conservative government of Stephen Harper put a motion to re-open the debate on same-sex marriage. The motion was voted on today and the result is ....
defeat for Harper. MP's voted 175-123 to not re-open the debate. The law stands and same-sex marriage is still legal.
Canada remains on the same side of this issue as most other civilized countries.
Why hasn't America legalized same-sex marriage? Is it because of religion? Is it because the American constitution, and the concept of human rights, is different than all other constitutions?
4 comments :
Laws in Canada, laws in Canada's constitution, have not been followed since 1901 when Queen Victoria died, so why start now with laws in Canada concerning the definition of marriage?
Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901.
The next day, on January 23, 1901, Section 9 of the British North America Act, 1867, now called the Constitution Act, 1867, still stated: "The Executive Government and Authority of and over Canada is hereby declared to continue and be vested in the Queen".
On January 23, 1901, Section 17 still stated: "There shall be One Parliament for Canada, consisting of the Queen, an Upper House styled the Senate, and the House of Commons".
On January 23, 1901, Section 91 still stated: "It shall be lawful for the Queen, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate and House of Commons, to make Laws for the Peace, Order, and good Government of Canada, in relation to all Matters not coming within the Classes of Subjects by this Act assigned exclusively to the Legislatures of the Provinces; ...".
What was the name of Canada’s constitutional Queen regnant who had executive government and authority of and over Canada after the reign of Queen Victoria and before the reign of Queen Elizabeth II?
I remember someone saying something like this. At any rate, the world hasn't come to an end-- much like how we Canadians haven't degenerated into immorality just because we offer same-sex marriages. When Prince Charles becomes the King of Canada, I fully expect his visage on my twenty dollar bills and stamps, if not on old constitutional documents.
Why hasn't America legalized same-sex marriage? Is it because of religion? Is it because the American constitution, and the concept of human rights, is different than all other constitutions?
I think you have to live here in America to get a sense of how deep the fear of homosexuality runs. I've lived in rural America as well as in San Francisco. In the former the bigotry can be astonishing and blatant. Even in SF which takes pride in tolerance and diversity there are still violent attacks on gays.
It's just plain old ignorance. While I'm happy to see the tide changing (the percentage of people accepting or at least tolerating homosexulaity is increasing) I think it will be a long time (decades) before same-sex marriage becomes legal. Now that our VP's lesbian daughter is pregnant the spotlight is on the recently passed draconian laws in Virgina. Things like that will help, but the concept has become such a political hot potato that in this age of micro-polling it's hard find a politician who will stand up for this small portion of the population -- the self-serving bastards.
Why is it that Canada was able to pass same-sex marriage? I doubt it was due to lack of religion.
Andys asks,
Why is it that Canada was able to pass same-sex marriage? I doubt it was due to lack of religion.
I'd love to know why America is so different from the civilized nations. Could it have something to do with religion? America is by far the most religious of the modern democracies and it's also the most retarded when it comes to social progress.
This could be a correlation that's due to some underlying cause (ignorance?) but it could also be a cause-and-effect relationship. Maybe religion really does promote intolerance and hatred.
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