Gay Marriage in Canada

Canada Lawmakers Craft Gay-Marriage Bill

TORONTO - The Canadian government introduced its contentious same-sex marriage bill in Parliament on Tuesday, seeking to legalize gay marriage nationwide over the objections of the Roman Catholic Church and other conservative clergy.

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, upon introducing the bill, said the legislation reflected the spirit of Canadian rights and freedoms protected under the constitution.

"Canada is a land built on a tradition of equality and respect," Cotler said. "It is the responsibility of Parliament to ensure that minority rights are uniform across the country. The government cannot, and should not, pick and choose which rights they will defend and which rights they will ignore."

But the country is deeply divided on the issue, and the bill's passage was not assured.

The opposition Conservative Party said it would fight the legislation, which defines marriage as a civil union between two people, as opposed to the current definition of marriage between a man and a woman.

"Marriage is a historical union that has existed between a man and a woman. It has been recognized in that way by cultures across time," said Vic Toews of the Conservative Party.

Prime Minister Paul Martin, whose minority Liberal government drafted the legislation, defended the proposed bill on Tuesday.

"Canada is a country where minorities are protected," he said.

Martin has staked his leadership on the issue, saying he was prepared to call early elections to defend the right of homosexuals to marry.

He insisted a clause in the legislation reinforced a Supreme Court ruling in December that stipulates that no place of worship would be forced to perform gay unions against doctrine.

For passage, the bill needs approval from 154 members of the 308-seat House of Commons. It approved, Canada would join Belgium and the Netherlands as the only other countries to embrace same-sex marriage nationwide.

The debate is being watched closely in the United States, where a majority of Americans oppose gay marriage, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll taken in November, shortly after constitutional amendments in 11 states to ban same-sex marriage were approved.

Cotler noted that seven of Canada's 13 provinces and territories already allow marriage between gays and lesbians, and he said it was time to make the law uniform nationwide.

Roman Catholic Church groups have joined forces with other religious groups to defeat the legislation, with Quebec Archbishop Marc Cardinal Quellet saying the bill "threatens to unleash nothing less than cultural upheaval whose negative consequences are still impossible to predict."

The legislation will have to go to committee for study and it could take weeks, or even months, for a final vote.

Komen: 

•    Artikel di atas tentang rang undang-undang di Kanada yang membenarkan perkahwinan sejenis; gay dan lebian biarpun dibantah oleh Gereja Roman Katolik dan golongan paderi konservatif. Kanada menyifatkan undang-undang ini sebagai satu kebebasan dan menggambarkan semangat hak Kanada.. Selain itu, mereka berpendapat bahawa seharusnya Parlimen menperjuangkan hak-hak minoriti.

•    Hakikatnya, setakat ni banyak negara-negara maju mula membenarkan perkahwinan sejenis di dalam negara mereka atas alasan hak-hak individu untuk berkahwin denga siapa yang mereka suka. Setakat ini sahaja 14 buah negara telah membenarkan perkahwinan sejenis ini. Antaranya ialah Belanda, Afrika Selatan, Belgia, Sepanyol, Argentina, Kanada, Denmark dan lain-lain negara maju. Mereka ini yang menyunjung bahawa hak-hak individu khususnya hak-hak minoriti juga harus dipertahankan. Namun, sebenarnya hak-hak asasi ini perlu juga dikenakan sekatan supaya tidak melebihi batas-batas norma kehidupan. Selama ini, telah menjadi tradisi bahawa kesatuan melalui perkahwinan ialah berlaku diantara hubungan lelaki dan wanita dan bukannya sesame jenis.

·         Dalam The Universal Declarations of Human Rights (UDHR) dalam artikel 16 yang menyatakan bahawa ( 1 ) lelaki dan perempuan dewasa , tanpa mengira bangsa, kewarganegaraan atau ugama, berhak berkahwin dan menubuhkan keluarga . Mereka adalah berhak kepada hak-hak sama berhubung dengan perkahwinan , dalam tempoh masa perkahwinan dan pada pembubarannya, (2) perkahwinan boleh dilaksanakan hanya dengan persetujuan bebas dan sepenuhnya oleh pihak yang bercadang untuk berkahwin. Ini juga bermaksud mereka berhak berkahwin apabila telah dewasa dengan pilihan mereka sendiri. Dengan tertakluknya artikel 16 ini menyebabkan banyak negara maju  mula membenarkan perkahwinan sejenis ini. 

·         Amalan perkahwinan sejenis ini juga tidak dibenarkan di dalam mana-mana agama termasuklah Islam, Katolik dan Buddha. Mereka berpandangan bahawa ini bercanggah dengan ajaran masing-masing. Sikap keterbukaan dari negara-negara Barat ini mampu mempengaruhi nilai-nilai ketimuran di negara kita Malaysia. Kini, telah ada organisasi-organisai yang cuba memperjuangkan hak-hak minoriti berkaitan hal ini di Malaysia. Perkara ini seharusnya dibendung. Dan baru-baru ini Malaysia telah membenarkan lelaki berpakaian wanita. Ini sedikit sebanyak menunjuk betapa liberalnya perlembagaan Malaysia yang agama Islamnya adalah agama rasmi di Malaysia.