|
Gay couples marry in Canada
15/01/2001 11:29 - (SA)
Toronto - Two gay and lesbian couples were married in a Toronto church on Sunday in a challenge to Canada's federal ban on same-sex marriages, Canada's CTV television reported.
The marriages are not expected to be regarded as legal by the Ontario provincial government, which only recognises marriage between a man and a woman.
Kevin Bourassa and Joe Varnell, and Anne and Elaine Vautour, were married in the Metropolitan Community Church using the Christian tradition of marriage banns - a public notice of people's intent to marry.
The reading of the banns is an opportunity for anyone who might oppose a wedding to come forward with objections before the ceremony.
The Reverend Brent Hawkes, a senior pastor at the church and long-time gay activist, agreed to marry the couples and said that under the banns he could grant each a marriage licence.
Hawkes told CTV he would take the matter to Canada's highest court if the province refused to recognise the licences.
"On Tuesday I will take the documents and put them in the mail as required and then they will go to the registrar general who has a decision to make," Hawkes said.
Gay couples are challenging the federal ban on same-sex marriages in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec and British
Columbia.
In British Columbia, Attorney General Andrew Petter has
been granted permission to ask the courts to rule on whether
the federal ban is constitutional.
- Reuters
|
