Church conducts same-sex wedding
TORONTO, ON -The ceremony complete and the vows said, two same-sex couples, their pastor, and advocacy groups across Canada are bracing for the next round of wrangling over legalizing homosexual marriages.
Amid outcry across the country from groups opposing same-sex relationships, two couples went ahead with their marriage
ceremonies at Metropolitan Community Church January 14.
"The whole thing is, in a sense, a publicity maneuver," says Janet Epp Buckingham, general legal counsel for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The media has taken the opportunity "to portray this in a positive light and push this agenda forward," she adds. "It involves softening public opinion towards [same-sex marriage], so by the time it's in the courts, people have developed a sympathy for the cause."
According to the annual Maclean's/Global year end poll, 44 per cent of Canadians are against the idea of recognizing gay marriages. Of that number, 35 per cent said they were strongly opposed.
"If you re-test that next Christmas, there may be a significant softening of public opinion," says Epp Buckingham. "It presents a real challenge to those of us who are committed to heterosexual marriage to put forward the positive view of heterosexual marriage. When you have a sympathetic portrayal of same-sex couples, and you oppose them, then you're a bad guy."
Brian Rushfeldt, executive director for the Canada Family Action Coalition, says the Metropolitan church case is another step down the slippery slope of re-defining marriage. If same-sex marriage is legalized, "it will have a very detrimental impact because what they've said is there is no basis to define marriage any longer," he says.
"The basis has always been heterosexual in this nation. If it's suddenly changed, then we can't argue for any basis. It just throws the doors wide open to any form of relationship demanding they be recognized as
married."
Court battle looms
Traditionally, couples wishing to marry must obtain a marriage license, which is not granted to same-sex couples. Metropolitan Community Church is attempting to gain legal status by enacting an almost defunct tradition known as the "reading of the banns," where the intentions of the couple are read aloud in public three Sundays previous to the ceremony. The church can then issue a license.
"The use of a legal loophole that may or may not exist, to force radical social change, is unacceptable," says Darrel Reid, president of Focus on the Family Canada. Politicians need to "recognize heterosexual marriage's unparalleled value to society and get busy defending traditional marriage," he adds.
The Ontario government says it will not legally recognize the
marriages of Kevin Bourassa and
Joe Varnell and Anne Vantour
and Elaine Vantour that were
performed by Metropolitan Community Church pastor Brent
Hawkes. Even if Ontario does recognize the unions, marriage falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government. The Supreme Court declared in 1999 that same-sex unions do not equal marriage.
Hawkes says he is prepared to go to court to legalize the unions, adding the case to several others pending in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec challenging the heterosexual definition of marriage.
But even some of the staunchest defenders of homosexual marriage have their doubts. Eldon Hay, a retired United Church minister in Sackville, New Brunswick, has conducted marriage preparation sessions for same-sex couples in the past.
"It's a valiant effort, but a losing cause," he says of the Toronto church's actions. But, he says, "it's another chink in the armor. Denying [same sex couples] marriage is against the Charter. I think eventually the wall will
fall down."
It will be a long time before any results are seen from the court, says Epp Buckingham. Past court cases involving legalizing same-sex marriages have upheld the traditional view of marriage, she points out. "Until those cases are overturned by another court or until a law is passed saying that a marriage is something different, that is the law in Canada, that marriage is between a man and a woman."
Suzanne Scorsone, director of communications for the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, says banns, which stem from Catholic tradition, are not a legal means of marrying anyone, regardless of sexual orientation.
"The purpose of [the banns] is not to marry people, but to establish their freedom to marry," she says, to ensure there isn't a reason such as close relation or divorce prohibiting the union.
"Our church has always been entirely clear that the definition of marriage involves the life long commitment of a man and a woman," she says, stressing the "enormous importance of marriage and the family as the basic building block
of society."
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