Canada's Supreme Court OK's same-sex marriage

CBC News ^ | Dec 9, 2004 | CBC News Online staff

[Libertas aut Mortis]

Supreme Court OK's same-sex marriage Last Updated Thu, 09 Dec 2004 13:19:37 EST

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada says the federal government can change the definition of marriage, giving gays and lesbians the legal right to marry.

In a non-binding opinion released Thursday morning, the court reaffirmed religious freedoms under the Charter, saying religious officials opposed to same-sex marriages do not have to perform them.

It declined to answer a fourth question added by Paul Martin when he became prime minister: whether the current definition of marriage as a man and a woman was unconstitutional.

But the court said that by failing to appeal a number of lower court rulings that said excluding gays from marriage was discriminatory, the federal government had already accepted that position.

"The government has clearly accepted these decisions and adopted this position as its own," the court wrote.

[kellynla]

GOOD!
then the queers in America have somewhere to go! LMAO
bye, byyyyyyyyyy

[Aquinasfan]

The Supreme Court of Canada says the federal government can change the definition of marriage

No court can define away reality. You can call a homosexual relationship "marriage," but that doesn't make it so.

[billorites]

I realize that this may be neither the time nor place,
But tell me, have you ever been in a Turkish prison King?

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

There seems to be a denial of the fact that the court is also the government. The other branches were forced to legalize gay marriage. To say that a failure to appeal means they approve ignores the fact that it was protested to begin with.

And what a stupid thing to say "they CAN.." The question never was CAN they. It was MUST they.

[billorites]

Ooh, Canada!

[Argh]

Does this mean I can marry myself? YUCK!!

[sgtbono2002]

No but you can probably marry your dog.

[America's Resolve]

Well, I hope Canada's kids enjoy their gay classes! That way they can learn that gays are the normal people and everyone else are freaks.

[kellynla]

I friggin' love it...nothing like sweeping the trash on someone else's porch LOL




and after we ban abortions, anyone who wants one can go to Canada...

[Argh]

My dog's been dead since 1978. The animal rights whackos and necrophiliacs will therefore both be pleased. How wonderful.

[Centurion2000]

This is not good news .... the Hague Convention will make these marraiges effectively legal in the USA.

[free_life]

Do you all realize that the US Supreme Court has based some of it's decisions on decisions that have been made by Canadian courts?

This is not a Canada or any ONE nation issue, this is movement of perversion that is making it's way across the world.

All God has given us is being attacked.

[Stone Mountain]

the Hague Convention will make these marraiges effectively legal in the USA.

Now THAT'S interestine. What is the Hague Convention and how is the US bound by it?

[Centurion2000]

It basically states that marriages performed in other countries are legal in all countries that are signatories to it.

Which is why a married couple in the UK, Germany, France or even Russia is still LEGALLY married when they come into the USA for tourism or immigration purposes.

[Centurion2000]

see my earlier post.

[Stone Mountain]

It basically states that marriages performed in other countries are legal in all countries that are signatories to it. Which is why a married couple in the UK, Germany, France or even Russia is still LEGALLY married when they come into the USA for tourism or immigration purposes.

So isn't gay marriage already legal in Sweden and/or Denmark? What happens when they come to the US now? Or are they just not signatories?