Same-Sex marriage showdown in Ottawa

[gsdx]

Church leaders met on Parliament Hill today in Ottawa for a showdown concerning the new Government reopening the discussion on Bill C-38.

A portion follows:

Two groups of religious and community leaders faced off on Parliament Hill Tuesday at the National Marriage Caucus.

The one-day Ottawa event was organized by the socially conservative lobby group Canadian Family Action Council.

It was an opportunity for interested parties to speak up about reopening Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act, which allows any two adults to marry.

Not all religious leaders oppose same-sex marriage. One group held a press conference to support same sex marriage. Their leaders encouraged the government not to reopen the debate.

"No couple should be excluded from marriage simply because of their sexual orientation...no one else is harmed," said Elizabeth Bowden of the Unitarian Church, which has been marrying same-sex couples for several years.

Rabbi Steven Garten of Temple Israel in Ottawa spoke out against a predominantly Christian-based opposition to same-sex marriage.

"The Jewish community is not of one mind about the sanctity of marriage," said Garten. "However it is of one mind about one religion imposing limitations on the beliefs of the others."

I particularly like the comment made by Rabbi Garten, which I have emboldened.

Here is the complete story from CTV News:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...arriage_caucus_061024/20061024?hub=TopStories

Here is the same story from CBC News (Canada's National News Source):
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/10/24/samesex-opponents.html

 

[cAndId]

I love that quote by Rabbi Garten!

I hope this issue will be the downfall of the Government, there is no way the conservatives will gain a majority, now all we need is the Liberals to pick a leader so we can start to obliterate the right.

 

[RenaissanceMan]

Why are some people so concerned with meddling in other people's lives? No, really, why are they?

Because it "deeply affects their own lives".

Heaven forbid the world might come to be free(er) of homophobia with all the increased acceptance. They wouldn't know what to do with themselves...

I would love if this was the downfall of the conservative gov't, but I'd love it even more if they just realized they're "wrong" and gave up.

 

[gsdx]

'The People' spoke last time. I'm sure they'll speak this time, too.

There may be debate if the Conservatives don't change their mind and toss the bill back into the fire, but I doubt if it will be overturned.

 

[RenaissanceMan]

I don't tell them who they can and can't marry.

I guess they claim that same-sex marriage affects the general atmosphere in which they and their kids have to live, blah blah blah...

I suggest to them a quotation by Oscar Wilde:

"Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live."

 

[RyzeAbove]

Why are some people so concerned with meddling in other people's lives?

No, really, why are they?

because their lives suck and they have nothing else better to do.

 

[randyreese]

My partner and I who have been together for 12 years got married here in Ottawa on October 13,2006. My lawyer, who is gay himself, indicted to to us that to be on the safe side , it would be in our best interest to go ahead with the ceremony because even if the Conservative go ahead with their motion and the whole question of same sex marriages is revisited, there is a very good chance that it will not be overturned. We have created a paper trace that will stand us in good stead. My lawyer does not believe that the Conservative government can or will try to rescind all the thousands of marriages that have been conducted in the past year and a half. Couples from around the world have come to Canada for the opportunity to sanction their love. And we are just one of them.

 

[halubtsi]

My co-worker said it best today: If you don't like gay marriage...then don't get married to a gay man/woman. And my friend who went to the anti-gay marriage conference, told me that the arguments are the same ones again. A child needs a mother and a father...more people will become gay...etc... And just to clarify, my friend was a mole for EGALE Canada (the pro-gay marriage group.)

 

[teh_nathan]

Exactly right.

Why are some people so concerned with meddling in other people's lives?

No, really, why are they?

 

[screwnutty]

I think the ppl that don't like the idea of Gay Marriage are basically holding on to dear life. All they know is what one book tells them (and it's vague at that!). They've been taught that it's wrong and immoral and that God will destroy us and turn us into salt pillers etc. Think how scared they are...can you imagine living your life were you think that your living in the "end times" and that "evil" is winning and that the devil is coming to claim your soul. That's not a life worth living....I feel sorry for these ppl...I truly do. We only live on average 75 years on this planet. To live these few precious years wondering if a being or thing or divine force is watching us 24/7 and will strike us down if we don't live the way the book tells us to. It's just sad....sad I tell you.

anyways sorry to rant.

I think the PC government is using this issue to try and force another election...to see if they can win a majority government..(god truly help us if that happens!!)

 

[Kurn]

Why are some people so concerned with meddling in other people's lives?

No, really, why are they?

Basic analysis: Proposition XYZ threatens foundational assumptions.
These assumptions are deemed so vital to their existential investments that even mentioning them must be deemed dangerous. Ergo, if you ask them if this is the case, they will actually say anything to avoid the association. That is why it is so difficult to understand them. They cannot connect with what is so threatening. There is no answer; they must resort to irrational or inhumane behaviors.

Gay marriage threatens a micro-cosmos of interdependent assumptions about economics, masculinity, paternity/maternity, tribal and human mythology...

 

[theFallenGod]

as a new resident to this great country from the oppresive one just to the south.... i have to say that the overall feeling among the people here always seems a lot more like what other people doesnt matter... i really don't think that there is any hope of this subject being revitalized or overturned for that matter....the people here are to smart and educated for that kind of crap... and who here really wants to be like they are in the states?

 

[yvrpalms]

Interesting article in the globe and mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061025.SAMESEX25/TPStory/National seems they changed their tune slightly

 

[gsdx]

From the article:

He and five other opponents of homosexual marriage complained that the new law is forcing . . . commissioners who perform civil marriages to marry gays and lesbians even if the unions are counter to their own religious beliefs.

The commissioners are hired to serve all people. Clergymen are hired to serve religious people and, in particular, Christians.

The law does not require clergyment to perform the marriages, but it requires civil servants to do so regardless of their religious beliefs. It's their job!

I'm glad they changed their minds, though. I'm sure that, if studies are done, they won't find much of an impact.

 

[PreTTy PeTe]

i like this quote

"We wish that they would study it, we wish that they would have proper hearings," Dr. Charles McVety, a senior director of Defend Marriage Canada, said at a news conference.

The act that introduced same-sex marriage "went through without the proper studies and it's impacting our lives. It's impacting people

i'd impact him

 

[PreTTy PeTe]

and this one

"With same-sex marriage, we are basically saying it is legal and acceptable to take away the natural parent of a child and to put him in a new family," Mr. DeSerres said. "This is without any regard to the best interests of the child. We ask all members of Parliament to at least study these issues before they decide to say no."

what they don't realize if they allowed more gay couples to adopt

a lot of kids would have a better life