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| Sunday, 03 August 2003 |
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Gay marriage turns into explosive issue in Canada OTTAWA, Saturday (Reuters) Legalizing gay marriages, seen as an noncontroversial shoo-in during a quiet summer season, could blow up in the face of Canada's ruling Liberal Party as church and family groups speak out against the plan. What had seemed like a done deal is now no longer as certain as bishops make regular pronouncements against it and legislators get flooded with mail and phone calls. "There's not even one whisper (in favor of gay marriage)," Ottawa Liberal Member of Parliament Eugene Bellemare said of the 400 faxes and letters he has received on the issue. The government's plans and the reaction especially of the Roman Catholic Church, with warnings of possible damnation, has also prompted a debate about the proper role of faith in society. Prime Minister Jean Chretien, his likely successor Paul Martin, and Justice Minister Martin Cauchon are all Catholics but have all come out in favor of gay marriage, just four years after having voted to keep marriage heterosexual. The Roman Catholic bishop of Calgary, Fred Henry, told the Globe and Mail newspaper this week that Chretien did not understand what it meant to be a good Catholic. "He's putting at risk his eternal salvation," he said. "He's making a morally grave error and he's not being accountable to God." Mindful of the Canadian moves, the Vatican also issued 12 pages of "considerations" on Thursday in which it urged politicians everywhere not to approve gay marriage. The Globe and Mail reacted in an editorial: "The Vatican's insistence that politicians put their religion first in determining public policy on the question is beyond the pale." And Chretien's office issued this defense: "The prime minister is a Roman Catholic. Obviously he has respect for the church. However, the prime minister has said on several occasions that there needs to be a separation of church and state." That in turn prompted a Catholic rebuttal that Martin Luther King, who fought racism in the United States, and Tommy Douglas, who introduced public health care in Canada, both were Christian clergymen who acted on the basis of their faith. "We believe there is a separation of church and state, but that doesn't mean that the church has to be a nice little pious group that prays in the corner," Peter Schonenbach, general secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, told Reuters. U.S. President George W. Bush's declaration this week of his intention to seek ways in law to ensure that marriage remains heterosexual has also gotten heavy coverage in Canada. A U.S. poll this summer found opposition to gay marriage at 53 percent to 38 percent. In a Canadian poll taken in June, well before the latest pronouncements, those surveyed were in favor of gay marriage by 54 percent to 44 percent. |
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