And about time too. I’m glad that BC has decided to join the couple of other provinces out there that have decided to lift the ban on same sex marriages. Good for BC. As I understand it same sex couples pay their taxes as if they were married, but don’t actually get any of the benifits.
Of course, some aren’t as happy about the whole deal, saying:
Bruce Clemenger, president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, says in a press release. “We are dismayed that the Ontario Court of Appeal would declare that heterosexual marriage, an institution which has served humankind for millennia, is unconstitutional, discriminatory and, by implication, contrary to Canadian values.”
Last time I looked, heterosexual marriages weren’t unconstitutional or discriminatory, but denying homosexual marriages was. Big difference there, but of course, everyone’s gotta twist words to make them follow their own adgenda.
Personally I’m glad that now men and women of all genders and sexual orientations have the same rights as everyone else to make the same mistakes with marriage that everyone else can. If you’ve been together from 10 years you should be allowed to be legally married (ignoring a rant about how “legal” marriage is just bondage put upon people by the state for the purpose of control… I’ll put my tinfoil hat away for now) just like any other couples, and enjoy the same benifits.
This’ll be a touchy subject I’m sure, there is a good post on metafilter about this with some of the arguments from each side and the idea that gays and lesbians should use the term “union” instead of “marriage” and it’s religous overtones, even if the laws applying to a “union” were exactly the same as that of a “marriage” (enough “quotes” for you?).
Personally I’m glad that another vestige of discrimination has started to go away. It’ll be interesting to see what happens (the start of the end of the world for some people I’m sure). There’s a lot of people talking about this as well.