By Gudrun Schultz
VANCOUVER, Canada, June 5, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Homosexual activists from outside North America are using Canada’s new same-sex marriage law for leverage to force the issue in their home countries.
Two British women who “married” each other in Canada in 2003, under the new legislation granting legal recognition to same-sex couples, are now trying to persuade the U.K. High Court that their marriage should be recognized in the United Kingdom.
At a hearing beginning this week lawyers for Sue Wilkinson and Celia Kitzinger will argue that failure to recognize the marriage would be a breach of their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, the Canadian Press reported.
Under new U.K. legislation, civil partnerships afford homosexual couples the same tax, pension and inheritance rights as married heterosexual couples, but the women have said that is not satisfactory and they want their union fully recognized as marriage within the country.
In a similar case, three homosexual Israeli couples that were “married” in Canada are now attempting to force the Israeli government to recognize their unions as legitimate marriages. Israel does not acknowledge homosexual unions under current law.
Charles McVety, president of Canada Family Action Coalition, told the CP he disagrees with Canada’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage, a decision that is now having an impact on other countries.
“We are not in step with the world,” he said. “Britain looked at redefining marriage and they declined to do so. One of the most liberal countries on Earth, France, looked at it and did proper due process and came out with an exhaustive study in January and decided not to redefine marriage.”
“Marriage is a religious institution and under separation of Church and state the state has no right to redefine baptism, communion, bar mitzvahs or marriage.”
Canada does not require citizenship before homosexual marriage can take place, making the country an attractive choice over Belgium or Holland for homosexual couples seeking marriage. Both European countries require citizenship of at least one partner before a couple can marry.
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See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Israeli Same-Sex Marriage Case Goes to Supreme Court
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/apr/06040606.html