Politics
Tuesday May 24, 2005
9000 Attend Toronto Marriage Rally - All Faiths and Cultures Represented
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
TORONTO, May 24, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Nine thousand people representing nearly every creed and nationality in Canada crowded into Queen's Park yesterday to stand for traditional marriage. Echoing similar rallies around the country in recent months which have collectively gathered some one hundred thousand Canadians, pro-family and religious leaders spoke strongly of the need to protect the institution of marriage from radical redefinition to include homosexual couples.
Along with rally organizer, Presbyterian minister Rev. Tristan Emmanuel, several evangelical ministers including Ron Mainse, son of 100 Huntley Street founder David Mainse, and Rev. Al Bezuyen (the emcee) took part in the rally.
While weather reports threatened rain, the sometimes cloudy but mostly sunny and warm weather was perfect for the rally.
Toronto Catholic Bishop Emeritus Pearce Lacey spoke at the rally as did Ontario Knights of Columbus Life and Family Values Chairman leader Dan Heffernan. Jewish Rabbi Mendel Kaplan and Muslim Imam Suleiman Yacoob were crowd favourites at the gathering. Toronto Ukrainian Orthodox Bishop Yuriy Kalishchuk and Coptic Orthodox priest Fr. Rueiss Awad also addressed the huge crowd. Other faith leaders included Angican Tony Copples, Janet Epp Buckingham of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and Dr. Graham Scott of the St Ignatius of Antioch Antiochian Orthodox Mission Station in St Catharines.
Youth were dominant in the crowd, representing at least fifty percent of participants.
Pro-family leaders including Campaign Life Coalition President Jim Hughes, Dr. Charles McVety of Defend Marriage Canada, Jim Duffy of Witness, Jewish leader Joseph Benami made brief remarks.
Cultural community leaders including Rev. Dominic Tse of the Chinese Christian community and Mr. Masood Khan, president of the United Front of Pakistani Canadians were well represented at the rally. Rev. Tse also introduced a man from Hong Kong who was a former homosexual and is now happily married. The man and his wife now carry out a Christian ministry to homosexuals giving them hope to alter their sexual orientation.
Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament Jim Flaherty and Saskatchewan Federal Member of Parliament Maurice Vellacott also addressed the crowd.
Above all, the youthful crowd was wowed with the awesome music of the David MacDonald Band with their feature song on the subject, "One Man, One Woman."
CDs and a DVD of all the speeches and music at the rally can be ordered from ECP athttp://www.ecpcenter.org/events/marriage_rally_5_23_2005/index.php?page=products
jhw
JIm Hughes addresses the Rally
Some of the many youth at the rally
Dave MacDonald Entertained the crowd
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
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.