By Jennifer Colbourne (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: January 25, 2012
Recently, the legality of same-sex marriages outside of Canada came into question. The resulting hullaballoo had the Conservatives back-tracking away from the issue faster than you can say “hot potato.”
It all came down to one lawyer’s argument in a case in which two lesbian foreign-citizens, having been married in Canada, now wanted a divorce. The problem? Canada doesn’t issue divorces for people who have not resided here at least a year, but in the lesbian couple’s case, their home countries can’t grant them a divorce because there, well, gay marriage isn’t recognized. The lawyer’s argument? Basically, if their marriage wasn’t recognized in their jurisdictions, then it wouldn’t be recognized here.
Now here’s a loophole that suddenly turned into a fast fuse. People were instantly outraged, and rightly so considering the implications. An explosion of jumped conclusions and rumours blew across headlines. However, despite the media’s sensationalism, it doesn’t look like Canada will be annulling foreign gay marriages any time soon.
The government has made it clear they have no intention of touching gay marriage. In fact, according to Global News, the justice minister has officially reassured Canadians that the government will now take the step to “change the Civil Marriage Act so that any marriages performed in Canada that aren’t recognized in the couple’s home jurisdiction will be recognized in Canada.”
Phew.
Now that we’ve all had a minute to breathe, let us examine the charred fragments of these hasty, impassioned conclusions floating about in the air.
Why the collective freak-out? Well, it’s great that Canadians are so ardently prepared to defend the rights of their fellow gay citizens. But that’s not the point. Canadians are nervous.
It’s not like everybody who used to vote Liberal just disappeared in the last election. The political centre is still alive and well, and I’d say just about every Red Tory (a Liberal who voted Conservative) around has been feeling uneasy—perhaps even slightly guilty—since the elections.
The Red Tories voted with the hope that with a majority government things would finally get done, and that perhaps the Conservatives could wrangle the economy back into shape. The gamble was that the Harper government wouldn’t mess around with already existing social policies such as abortion and gay marriage. Thus, as soon as it looks like the social stakes are about to be lost, fear and panic ensue from the remorseful Reds.
As for the left, well, the left has never trusted Harper and the Conservatives from the start. An issue like this, and they are readily leaping from their seats to declare, “We told you so!” Every day they expect any and every social evil from the government, and there is a lot of left-wing rage just waiting to be vented.
It’s no wonder then that Canadians seem so willing to turn on the Harper government at the faintest smell of smoke. And, if we keep smelling smoke, does that mean that there actually is a fire? For now, it looks like gay rights are safe. But a Conservative MP has been recently insisting that we investigate when a fetus becomes a human being, which would effectively open the doors to the abortion issue. Is this another hot potato for the Conservatives to flee, or the spark of social evil?
We all wait, uneasily.
