Religious And Family Groups Allowed Intervenor Status
VANCOUVER, Jan 24, 2001 (LSN.ca) - The court cases launched in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec by homosexual couples demanding marriage are being funded by taxpayers through the Federal Court Challenges Program (FCCP). Canada’s foremost homosexual activist group Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE) orchestrated the cases by asking for homosexual couples interested in marriage to come forward, they screened the applicants and sent their selections off to commence the challenges by applying for marriage licences. Gwen Landolt, of Real Women Canada told LifeSite that the decision to publicly fund the challenges via the FCCP was facilitated by lesbian activist Shielagh Day who chairs the government’s FCCP committee on equality issues. Day decided, surprise-surprise, to make the public to pick up the large tab for the “equality” cases.
Recent rulings have allowed intervenor status in the cases to be granted to two social groups and two faith based groups on either side of the debate. Intervening on behalf of the homosexual couples is EGALE and Brent Hawkes’ Metropolitan Community Church, which recently staged an unrecognized wedding ceremony for two homosexual couples. Intervening to protect marriage are the Association of Marriage and the Family as well as the Interfaith Coalition on Marriage and Family.
The Association of Marriage and the Family is comprised of Real Women of Canada, the Canadian Family Action Coalition and Focus on the Family Canada. The Interfaith Coalition on Marriage is comprised of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, The Catholic Civil Rights League, The Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Archdiocese of Vancouver, The Islamic Society of North America, The B.C. Muslim Association and the Sikh Community. Phil Horgan of the Catholic Civil Rights League told LifeSite that the BC case is due in court this July, the Ontario case is scheduled for the fall, and the Quebec timetable has not yet been set.