[1]OTTAWA, Canada (BP)–Same-sex “marriage” in Canada moved one step closer to reality July 17 when the federal government unveiled draft legislation that would give homosexuals an unprecedented right.
The Canadian government sent the Supreme Court legislation stating that marriage “for civil purposes is the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others.”
Assuming the court issues an opinion saying the legislation is constitutional and compatible with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the legislation will be voted on in the House of Commons, according to Canadian Press.
Belgium and the Netherlands are the only two countries in the world that allow same-sex “marriage.”
The federal government attempted to ward off opponents by asking the court a series of questions, Canadian Press reported. One of the questions concerns religious conservatives: “Do the religious-freedom guarantees in the Constitution protect religious officials who refuse to sanctify same-sex marriages that violate their beliefs?”
Canadian religious conservatives, while opposed to the legislation outright, also fear that they eventually will be forced by the government to compromise their beliefs by presiding at same-sex “marriage” ceremonies.
[2]Officials in the province of Alberta say they won’t do the paperwork for same-sex “marriages,” Canadian Press reported.
David Mainse, a prominent Canadian television evangelical, said on the television program “100 Huntley Street” July 16 that in “every dictionary on this planet, every language, there’s only one meaning for the word marriage, [and] that is a man and a woman.”
Appealing to natural law, world history and Jesus’ words in Scripture, Mainse said that the “governments of Canada, the governments of the world … came thousands of years after humanity began to use the term ‘marriage.’ The first human institution was a man and a woman.”
Mainse, in fact, is resigning as longtime host of 100 Huntley Street in order to devote his energy fulltime to other causes, particularly the battle against same-sex “marriage.” He told TV viewers that his resignation will allow him to be more politically involved and will protect the tax status of Crossroads Christian Communications, which he founded and which owns 100 Huntley Street.
“Canada is the first [country] whose courts have dictated a change in the meaning of a word, and that’s what I am absolutely dead set against and that’s what I’m going to fight day and night…” he said.
Mainse added that marriage is the very foundational pillar of family, of children, and their futures and the future of life as we know it.”
The controversy began in June when the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that homosexuals could “marry” beginning immediately. While the Canadian government chose not to appeal the decision, several religious groups and conservatives are attempting to do so.
Further information on the Canadian battle against same-sex “marriage” is available on Focus on the Family’s Canadian website, www.fotf.ca.
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