Life Is Not Purgatory
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
A Day Long Remembered (aka #3)
With the passage of the Civil Marriage Act by the House of Commons there is little chance of it failing to pass the Senate, and next-to-no chance of it failing to receive Royal Assent. This means that in a little over a month Canada will be the third nation (after The Netherlands and Belgium) to universally acknowledge same-sex marriages. Now I’ve read more than a few op-ed articles that oppose the entire concept of gay marriage, and the liberalization of our family structure, and it pains me to see that it always degenerates into a fear-mongering attack on where we are headed: legal polygamy, incest and pedophilia.
It sickens me that these mostly religious leaders, attempt to tap into the basest instincts of their congregations in order to combat something they find morally repugnant. I fully support the positions of many religious orders that they should not be forced to perform weddings they find unacceptable on religious grounds… that very solidly lands in the protected territory of religious freedom and that also needs to be protected. In a free and democratic nation, people have the right to be intolerant bigots and the law must protect that minority as well.
However, it is not for the Church to dictate to the State what it does within its secular institutions, such as the registries office. I think that in twenty years when most of the rhetoric fades, this will be well-remembered as a conscientious, if contentious Act of Parliament…
That being said… I cannot condone the invocation of closure on this measure, there was no pressing national interest at stake, and the most the ninety-some Conservative MP’s could have done was delay the legislation for perhaps a few days. I am greatly unnerved by passing of the motion to invoke closure on the debate of this bill, and hope that in the next minority Parliament, such procedural rules are quashed. We need more debate in this Country not less, and while I opposed the position of the Conservative Party, they certainly should have had the ability to each speak for their allotted fifteen minutes of time.
With the passage of the Civil Marriage Act by the House of Commons there is little chance of it failing to pass the Senate, and next-to-no chance of it failing to receive Royal Assent. This means that in a little over a month Canada will be the third nation (after The Netherlands and Belgium) to universally acknowledge same-sex marriages. Now I’ve read more than a few op-ed articles that oppose the entire concept of gay marriage, and the liberalization of our family structure, and it pains me to see that it always degenerates into a fear-mongering attack on where we are headed: legal polygamy, incest and pedophilia.
It sickens me that these mostly religious leaders, attempt to tap into the basest instincts of their congregations in order to combat something they find morally repugnant. I fully support the positions of many religious orders that they should not be forced to perform weddings they find unacceptable on religious grounds… that very solidly lands in the protected territory of religious freedom and that also needs to be protected. In a free and democratic nation, people have the right to be intolerant bigots and the law must protect that minority as well.
However, it is not for the Church to dictate to the State what it does within its secular institutions, such as the registries office. I think that in twenty years when most of the rhetoric fades, this will be well-remembered as a conscientious, if contentious Act of Parliament…
That being said… I cannot condone the invocation of closure on this measure, there was no pressing national interest at stake, and the most the ninety-some Conservative MP’s could have done was delay the legislation for perhaps a few days. I am greatly unnerved by passing of the motion to invoke closure on the debate of this bill, and hope that in the next minority Parliament, such procedural rules are quashed. We need more debate in this Country not less, and while I opposed the position of the Conservative Party, they certainly should have had the ability to each speak for their allotted fifteen minutes of time.
