TORONTO, October 17, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — Pro-family groups are galvanizing opposition to the Ontario Liberals’ controversial Bill 28, All Families Are Equal Act, which legally redefines “mother” and “father” as “parent” to accommodate homosexual couples who conceive children through reproductive means.
REAL Women vice president Gwen Landolt slammed the Liberals for “ramming through a revolutionary bill to completely restructure ‘family’ relationships solely to please the LGBT community.”
Bill 28 “completely turns on its head the former understanding of ‘family’ which consisted of individuals united by marriage, blood and adoption,” the former lawyer contended in an October 16 critique.
REAL Women’s Landolt joined with Parents as First Educators (PAFE) in urging opposition to the bill, including written submissions to the standing committee on social policy, which is holding public hearings Monday and Tuesday.
Evangelical leader Dr. Charles McVety of Canada Christian College and Queenie Yu, an outspoken critic of the government’s sex ed curriculum who ran in a recent Ontario by-election on an anti-sex-ed ticket, will be speaking at the hearings.
“The government is trying to erase all trace of biological parents from these children for an ideological motive,” Yu told Toronto Sun’s Joe Warmington. “It’s just unnatural.”
Landolt also excoriated Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals for pushing through this “extraordinary” legislation, which passed second reading debate October 3 “at a breathtaking pace.”
The Liberals justified their speed because the bill is about equality, and no one would have a problem with that, she stated.
Indeed, Attorney General and bill sponsor Yasir Naqvi told the legislature at the outset of the second reading debate that “I don’t think there’s any debate about this issue.”
“Not so fast,” countered Landolt, adding: “Bill 28 is a convoluted attempt to pretend, contrary to science and nature, that all situations are the same.”
But there are undeniable differences between children conceived naturally, and those conceived through “outside donor’s reproductive material,” she pointed out.
“For example, a child by adoption already exists, but in this case a child is being deliberately conceived,” Landolt stated. “There is no provision for a registry to record who the donor is, their medical history, genetics, etc.”
According to Landolt’s critique, Bill 28 provides that:
- a child may have four parents, allowing a partner of the same-sex couple who has no blood ties with the child to become the parent of the child automatically, without adoption;
- sperm donors (fathers) are no longer deemed to be a parent of the child conceived;
- apart from a surrogacy agreement, there is no reference to the relationship of an ovum donor (the mother) to the child;
- “mother,” “father” are no longer mentioned on birth certificates.
Moreover, the 66-page statute is so “muddled” that the bill’s drafters inserted a clause in anticipation of the barrage of litigation that will inevitably follow, observed Landolt, adding wryly: “Lawyers will be pleased with this bill.”
Bill 28 “does not address practical details such as the custody and support of the child,” which makes it “extremely difficult to determine who is on first base in regard to the child,” she pointed out.
Moreover, “if the courts currently are unable to track down one spouse for delinquent support payments, how is it going to track down three others?” she questioned. “If two parents are frequently at odds over the upbringing of the child, just imagine three or four parents trying to agree?”
Tory MPPs Randy Hillier and Bill Walker also criticized the Liberals for not allowing more debate on the ramifications of Bill 28.
A number of the bill’s supporters will be presenting at the public hearings October 17 and 18, including:
- Kirsti Mathers McHenry, who worked with NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo private member’s bill “Cy and Ruby’s Law,” similar legislation to Bill 28 and named after the two children of McHenry and her lesbian “spouse;”
- LGTBQ Parenting Network;
- Wilfrid Laurier University professor and lesbian Carolyn Fitzgerald;
- Joanna Radbord, a partner of law firm Martha McCarthy & Company LLP, whose legal action last June resulted in the Liberals putting forward the legislation.
REAL Women and PAFE urge those who can to attend the hearings for McVety’s presentation at 5:40 p.m. Monday and Queenie Yu’s at 5:40 Tuesday in Room 151, Queen's Park, Toronto.
Written submissions opposing Bill 28 can be sent to the clerk of the committee, Katch Koch, at [email protected], by no later than 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 18. For more information, go here.