... same sex marriage with ALL the trimmings
in ontario, canada, a lesbian couple who vowed “til death us do part” on 18 june, 2003, have filed that country’s first ever same-sex divorce action.
the women, aged 41 and 61, sealed their ten-year relationship by marrying just one week after same-sex marriage became allowed under canadian law. far from being as they envisioned, the couple formally separated five days after their “legal” wedding ceremony.
whilst the ruling liberal canadian government has vowed to legalize same-sex marriage across the country, opinion polls have shown that about half of canadians are against the move, and this new issue will surely only add fuel to the flames.
courts in most areas covering the country 31 million people have ruled that the right for same sex couples to marry is now guaranteed by the canadian constitution's charter of rights. however, the federal divorce act has yet to be amended to be applied to same sex marriages.
as divorce law still contains the archaic definition of “a man married to a woman” and the terms “husband” and “wife”, lawyers for the women are asking the court to grant the divorce and to declare the divorce act's definition of a spouse as “unconstitutional”.
the divorce petition in question was filed in the superior court of justice in june, 2004, and will be heard in september. lets’ hope that legislation can be altered in time for those women to get out of getting what they wanted now that they don’t want it anymore. oh wait, that actually is marriage. they did it. amazing.
but lets hope they keep in touch. we really need the outcome of this case. i mean, how awful if marriage actually became something we had to do for life. 