This story popped up in my Facebook stream this morning.
Canadian Gov’t Dissolves Thousands of Same-Sex Marriages (Including Dan Savage’s)
As a Canadian it blows my mind to think that this could be happening.
The reversal of federal policy is revealed in a document filed in a Toronto test case launched recently by a lesbian couple seeking a divorce. Wed in Toronto in 2005, the couple have been told they cannot divorce because they were never really married – a Department of Justice lawyer says their marriage is not legal in Canada since they could not have lawfully wed in Florida or England, where the two partners reside.
As it says later in the article
Critics of this attack on LGBT people have noted both online and off that if gay marriages are now without legal standing in Canada if the couple’s homeland forbids them, are Middle Eastern women living in Canada now stripped of their rights to vote, drive a car, or even show their hair? Is being gay now punishable by death in Canada if you’re from Uganda? Is blogging or criticizing your government now illegal for Egyptians living in Canada?
I looked around and found this article from the Globe and Mail which bills itself as Canada's Daily Paper, titled "Former Toronto mayor decries Ottawa’s ‘sneaky’ reversal on gay marriage".
The article notes that Harper has said that he is not planning on reopening the issue of gay marriage.
“In terms of the specifics of the story this morning, I will admit to you that I am not aware of the details,” Mr. Harper said. “This I gather is a case before the courts where Canadian lawyers have taken a particular position based on the law and I will be asking officials to provide me more details”
David Miller, the former mayor, doesn't believe him.
“I ran a major government – the sixth largest government in Canada – and I can tell you that this kind of decision would not happen without the Prime Minister being briefed,” Mr. Miller said.
There is some hope that in our typical Canadian fashion this may get quietly reversed.
Kevin Bourassa, a Toronto resident whose legal battle to wed Joe Varnell was instrumental in legalizing gay marriages in Canada, cautioned that the federal government's argument remains at this point a legal opinion.
“Sanity will prevail,” he said.
At the same time, Mr. Bourassa expressed dismay at the latest development. He recalled Americans gay couples singing O Canada when they came to Toronto to get married, starting in June 2003.
“They were so proud of this country. I wonder what they feel now,” Mr. Bourassa said.
The government’s hard line has cast sudden doubt on the rights and legal status of couples who wed in Canada after a series of court decisions opened the floodgates to same-sex marriage. The mechanics of determining issues such as tax status, employment benefits and immigration have been thrown into legal limbo.
Same-sex marriage was effectively legalized by the courts in 2004. A year later, the Liberal government of then-prime-minister Paul Martin passed a bill enshrining it in law. More than 5,000 of the approximately 15,000 same-sex marriages that have taken place since then involved couples from the United States or other countries.
Never made the Rec list before. Thanks. Sorry that it has to be over my country doing such a stupid and embarrassing thing.