QUICK LEAD
GAY MARRIAGE?
The same old questions
Not going beyond
The federal Justice Department asks for talk only on
"Marriage and Legal Recognition of Same-sex Unions"
On November 8, 2002 Canada's minister of justice released a discussion paper titled "Marriage and Legal Recognition of Same-sex Unions." It did not address, as Beyond Conjugality had, broader questions of the state's role in recognizing, supporting, and regulating the intimate relations of all Canadians. Its sole focus was on how to get the "gay marriage question" off the government's back.
The paper put forward three options. Two remain firmly in the frame of "Gay Marriage: Yes or No?" Keep marriage an opposite-sex institution (No). Or open the institution of marriage to same-sex couples (Yes). The third: Leave marriage to religions, replacing it in law with a partnership registration system for all conjugal couples -- and conjugal couples only.
The state would still be in the bedrooms of the nation. Legal benefits and obligations would still be based on our (supposed) sex lives. Common-law status could still be forced on people against their will. Justice has, not surprisingly, left aside questions of fundamental justice for all people -- "conjugal" or not.
And the options proposed are not really that simple. As ever, God is in the details. And maybe still in the lawbooks of the nation. But among the limited directions on offer, we may find ways to a better future.
THE DETAILS
Go to:
Locked in conjugality
"Marriage and Legal Recognition of Same-sex Unions"
A look at Justice's limited options -- and how we
might make the best of them
Or go back to:
This page: http://www.rbebout.com/getfree/locked1.htm
Ideas in play
(List of contents)
Better questions (Beyond Conjugality)
What you can do (Get heard)
Gay marriage? Wrong question (Lead page)
My home page
November 2002 / Last revised: December 25, 2002
Rick Bébout © 2002 / rick@rbebout.com