Mr. and Mr. Michael Leshner and Michael Stark
Posted on 12/29/2003 8:43:04 AM PST by NYer
Canada's gay newlyweds are making news ... again
Time honours their revolution
It's `an amazing year for us'
ASHANTE INFANTRY And now the newlyweds, the first gay couple to receive a legal marriage licence in Ontario, have been chosen as Time magazine's 2003 Canadian Newsmaker of the Year. "I think it just tops off what's been an amazing year for us," Stark said yesterday. "I call 2003 the Year of the Michaels." In the magazine's annual Person of the Year double issue, which hits newsstands today, the Michaels' June 10 marriage, just hours after a unanimous Ontario Court of Appeal decision rewrote the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples, is cited as a symbol of "the unprecedented acceleration of social liberalism in Canada in 2003." "From gay marriage to moves to decriminalize marijuana and provide supervised injection booths for drug addicts in Vancouver, 2003, will go down in history as the year that Canada rethought what was taboo," states the article by Steven Frank, the magazine's Canadian bureau chief. "The explanation for that broad social shift lies in deep, structural changes to Canadian society, which has steadily become both more urban and more multicultural. But it would not have happened so fast had individual men and women not pushed for change." And the soft-spoken Stark and media-savvy Leshner, who met in a bar in 1981, delivered a national wake-up call with verve, Frank said. "Here are two people who were willing to jump right into the fray and represent the gay-rights movement, and they've also done it with a style in which the media is attracted to them because they speak eloquently and sometimes outrageously," he said in an interview. "We're glad to be Canada's poster boys," Leshner said. "We think we've given Canada a gift, and from Canada to the whole world, that human rights, human dignity, equality are the much more enduring values." Since a judge pronounced them "lawfully married spouses," 2,000 same-sex weddings have taken place in Ontario and British Columbia, including those of 600 American couples. While acknowledging SARS, the August blackout and political shifts, Frank wrote that the year's social changes were the most momentous "since 1967, when a young Pierre Trudeau, then justice minister, introduced legislation that made it easier for women to get a divorce, reduced the restrictions on access to abortion and decriminalized homosexuality." "I don't think Canada's been in the news in the United States so much in decades," Frank said. "And because the United States is going though a conservative bent, partly due to the aftermath of Sept. 11, Canada seems to be going off in a different direction." While a photo spread inside the magazine features Leshner and Stark in their Toronto home, their photos are not on the cover. That honour goes to the "Anonymous American Soldier" who is Time magazine's Person of the Year and who will appear on the cover of all Time issues around the world. For Leshner and Stark, the Time distinction caps a year of "one high after another." Until now, the most thrilling had been riding in a convertible just behind the grand marshal at the gay pride parade in June. The couple see value in the publicity they generate. "It puts a human face on the story," Stark said. "We have an ongoing role to educate, de-mystify and counter the negative. People can see that we're not axe murderers or pedophiles. I defy anyone to give concrete reason as to how Michael and I marrying has had any negative effect on society." The pair plan to remain vigilant and vocal in light of the federal government's plans to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to take a broader look at the constitutionality of same-sex marriage to see if civil unions for gays and lesbians might satisfy equality rights. Prime Minister Paul Martin has said Ottawa must ensure that gays and lesbians who want to marry are not discriminated against under the Charter of Rights but added that Canadians need a full debate on the issue and all possible legal options before MPs vote on same-sex marriage. "His talking about alternatives to marriage, such as civil union, are obscene and indecent and based on homophobic premises that Canada is still unwilling and unable to welcome gay and lesbian families into the larger Canadian family," said Leshner, 55, a crown prosecutor. After 22 years together, the Michaels' recent marriage has had little impact on their union. "Our day-to-day life has not changed. Michael still thinks I should do more things around the house," Leshner said. "Michael and I are increasingly feeling like we're Canada's sweethearts. There's so much goodwill and affection and deep love and we're just overwhelmed by that."
STAFF REPORTER
It may not have been the wedding of the century, but Michael Leshner and Michael Stark's nuptials are being credited with sparking a cultural revolution.
Injection booths! Now there's a cause the Howard Dean groupies could get behind.
Now, there's a COUPLEt for you....
Replace "rethought what was taboo" with "embraced sin", and it's accurate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.