This is in response to the article against same sex marriages titled, “Statement on the Status of Marriage in Canada.” It was published in June by the Globe and Mail and signed by many professors in Canada, including two professors from U of T.
The United States and Canada were an experiment. There are few other places in the world that have so many people of different faiths and ethnicities working together. Uniquely, Canada and the United States were able to prevent their differences from working against them by developing countries where all people are treated at equal.
Canada was initially conquered by Europeans with Judeo-Christian beliefs that laid the foundation for many of the traditions and values we have today. Yet Canada has come a long way from its conservative European roots. As thankful as we are to our history, we have the knowledge and power to tweak our mighty democracy. Our laws include all genders and ethnicities. We are country that believes in equal rights and freedoms for all individuals. Or are we?
Marriage, a freedom enjoyed by most Canadians, has been restricted until now to “the union of one man and one woman.” The Canadian authorities are proposing to make this freedom accessible to all Canadians, whether they are gay, lesbian, or heterosexual. According to the statement published in the Globe and Mail, this imposes a new “ideology” of marriage that weakens the concept of the institution itself.
The argument against same sex marriages is emotionally and religiously charged. Those arguments work great in a theocracy, but not in Canadian democracy. Whether or not one agrees with same-sex marriages, banning them is nothing more than discrimination. In Canada, common law marriages are up by 20 per cent (according to Census Canada) and steadily increasing. We have parents who adopt and many single parent families that also challenge the notion of a nuclear family. Don’t these relationships also re-invent the definition of marriage?
Essentially, the true purpose of marriage is to create a sense of stability in our society. It is one of the last anti-secular traditions left in the western world. Marriage, according to the Globe and Mail, promotes monogamous and faithful relationships, and enables persons to raise children in a conjugal union. If two loving people are willing to make a commitment together, gay or not, they are clearly not a threat but an encouragement to the tradition of marriage.
Despite fears from religious groups, this law will not force anyone to sanctify homosexuality or force them to perform ceremonies that are against their own beliefs. Legalizing same sex-marriage merely gives homosexuals the freedom to participate in our society as equal citizens. Once again, Canada has the opportunity to lead the way in destroying discrimination.
