MARRIAGE SCRAPES BY IN CANADA
Canada's House of Commons narrowly approved of same-sex marriage Sept. 16 in a nonbinding test vote engineered by conservatives who wanted to gauge opposition to the concept.
MPs voted 137 to 132 to reject a Canadian Alliance party motion which read: 'That, in the opinion of this House, it is necessary, in light of public debate around recent court decisions, to reaffirm that marriage is and should remain the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, and that Parliament take all necessary steps within the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Canada to preserve this definition of marriage in Canada.'
'All necessary steps' refers to a very rarely invoked measure called the 'notwithstanding clause' that allows provinces or the federal government to override the protections of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms for up to five years. The federal parliament has never used the law.
This summer, courts in Ontario and British Columbia declared the federal definition of marriage in violation of the charter, and same-sex weddings began taking place immediately. The federal government later announced its agreement with the court rulings and has begun the process of legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
There is no residency requirement to get married in Ontario and British Columbia. Foreign gay couples can buy a license and marry the same day.
MARRIED CANADIAN COUPLE DENIED ENTRANCE TO U.S.
A Canadian gay couple married in the province of Ontario, where full same-sex marriage was legalized by court order this summer, was refused entrance into the United States Sept. 18 when they insisted on using a 'family' form to clear customs and immigration.
U.S. officials said that Kevin Bourassa and Joe Varnell were legally single and needed to fill out separate forms. The incident occurred at the Toronto airport, where the Department of Homeland Security clears U.S.-bound passengers in order to avoid operating customs and immigration facilities in smaller U.S. cities where the only international flights arrive from Canada.
'We were not going to divorce ourselves in order to enter a country,' Bourassa told The New York Times.
The couple was headed to speak at a human-rights conference in Georgia. They may sue over the matter if their lawyer can figure out who and how to sue.
