Politics
Monday September 27, 2004
Manitoba Says Marriage Commissioners Must 'Marry' Gays or Resign
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
WINNIPEG, September 27, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Manitoba judge ruled on September 16th, that the definition of marriage in Canada is unconstitutional. Justice Douglas Yard ordered the definition of marriage to be "reformulated to mean a voluntary union for life of two persons at the exclusion of all others." The government refused to contest a court ruling ordering it changed.
The activist judge made Manitoba the fifth Canadian province, after the Yukon, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec to have been mandated by activist court decisions to redefine marriage to include same-sex partners.
The same day as the ruling, letters went out to all 600 of Manitoba's marriage commissioners informing them that they must either be prepared to perform the ceremony for homosexual partners or resign.
Trucking company owner and marriage commissioner, Gil Dube said, "I will not perform a same-sex marriage, so based on that, I am left with no choice but to resign, back out or whatever." Ministers of religion are exempt from the ruling for the moment, but there is no protection for non-ordained persons whose religion prevents them from participating.
Various commentators have pointed out that once marriage has been divorced from its original meaning and purpose, any definition can be imposed including polygamy.
Mark Steyn writing for the Western Standard said that there is no reason to believe that in our age of concessions to multiculturalism, that Muslims would not start agitating for legal recognition of their polygamous arrangements. He wrote in the September 13 edition, "If it's a Muslim who finally makes it to the Supreme Court of Canada with a polygamy case, I'd reckon their lordships will rule that forbidding it is an unwarranted restriction of their charter rights. And I'd wager that a few of those justices will be happy to license polygamy if only to prove that their demolition job on "traditional marriage' was legally grounded rather than mere modish solidarity."
Previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage of Nova Scotia decision: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/sep/04092403.html
Canadian Press coverage: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1845&ncid=1845&e=5&u=/cpress/200...
ph
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- BREAKING: US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 220 to 215
- Stupak Amendment to Health Care Bill Passes 240 - 194 Saturday Evening
- Major Health Care Development - Pro-Life Stupak Amendment Vote OK'd for Today
- NY Times: Dems Banking on Later Squeezing Pro-Life Language Out of Bill in Committee
- USCCB Spokesman: "Definitely Not True" that Bishops Support Bill As it Stands
- TIME Got it Wrong - Prof. George Opposed Grandiose Kennedy Funeral
- USCCB Condemnation Tears Facade off "Phony" Abortion Compromise for Health Bill
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholic Left
- Dirty Fighting on Abortion Funding: Word-Games and Health-Care Theatrics Boggle the Mind
- Commentary on November 6 News
- Note to LifeSiteNews Subscribers with Rogers email addresses
- New York Gov. Declares Nov. 10 Extraordinary Legislative Session for Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Washington's Pro-Family Amendment Effort Defeated - R-71 Almost Certain to Pass
- Vote Pushed Back on Canadian Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Bill to Dec. 2
- Elderly U.K. Couple in Good Health Commit Suicide, Complain of Assisted Suicide Law
- Texas Late-Term Abortionist and Baptist Minister Admits: "Am I killing? Yes, I am"
- New Evidence Contradicts CCHD's Findings on Accused Pro-Abortion Partner
- Quebec Priest Denies Possibility of Sexual Reorientation Therapy on TV
- New Hampshire Same-Sex "Marriage" Law in Crosshairs after Maine's Law Crumbles
- Brooklyn Bishop Criticized for Recorded Message Praising Pro-Abortion Politician
- First Group of "Traditionalist" Anglicans in Britain Votes to Enter Catholic Church
Most Read this Week
- Planned Parenthood Director Resigns after Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure
- Nun Defiant Following Rebuke, but Stops Abortion Escorting
- Breaking: Dominican Community Apologizes for Nun Caught Acting as Abortion Escort
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholics Left
- Over 200 Christendom College Students Protest Abortion at Planned Parenthood Clinic
- Newly Identified Corporate Supporters of Planned Parenthood Named
- Scottish Gay Rights Activists Found Guilty of Pedophilia Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
- US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 218 to 215
- Major Health Care Bill Development - Stupak Hyde Amendment Vote OK'd
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.