Canadian Government Seeks to Qwell Gay Marriage Filing Backlash

The implications of a government filing in a lesbian divorce case in Canada has set off a fire storm over the validity of marriages performed in Canada for non-Canadians. Like many in the LGBT community, I have numerous friends who traveled to Canada to marry, including two of my best friends who have considered themselves happily married for almost five years. Given the anti-gay mindset of some in Stephen Harper's conservative government, it is not surprising that many among the thousands of non-Canadian same sex couples who married in Canada assumed the worse. Especially given the rejoicing that took fire among anti-gay hate groups such as the American Family Association. Now, the Harper government is seeking to calm the firestorm - and likely avoid the negative tourism repercussions of disallowing marriage to non-Canadians who reside in anti-gay jurisdictions such as Virginia. Here are highlights from The Globe and Mail on the Harper governments damage control effort:

The Harper government has moved to defuse a growing controversy over same-sex marriage with a promise to make legal changes to ensure that non-residents married in Canada can obtain divorces.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said that the same-sex marriage that ignited the controversy cannot legally be dissolved, but his department will search for a solution.

The move came after The Globe and Mail revealed that the Justice Department had taken a legal position that same-sex marriages involving non-residents are invalid – and cannot be dissolved – unless they are recognized as legitimate in the couple’s home country. That quickly sparked confusion at home and abroad from activists and couples who married in Canada.

Political opponents and gay activists feared the move signalled a reopening of the issue that would potentially cast the legality of same-sex marriage in doubt. However, Prime Minister Stephen Harper insisted Thursday afternoon that he would not do so.

“We're not going to reopen that particular issue,” Mr. Harper told reporters at a shipbuilding event in North Vancouver on Thursday afternoon, declining to elaborate beyond mentioning the release of Mr. Nicholson's statement.

Gay activists warned Thursday that their formidable lobby will mobilize to fight any attempt by the Harper government to push back hard-won rights. “Have thousands of same-sex couples been misled by Canadian officials for nearly eight years?” said Helen Kennedy, executive director of the gay rights group, Egale Canada.

It also emerged that the Toronto case was the second time in the past year that Justice Department lawyers have intervened to raise obstacles in a same-sex divorce case.

Dean Del Mastro, the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, insisted that the Conservatives consider the issue of gay marriage closed. “There’s been absolutely no discussion within our party about this at all,” he said. However, skepticism about the government’s motives continued to run rampant.

Former prime minister Paul Martin, who brought in the law allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry, said the government’s position in the Toronto divorce case is “absolutely ridiculous.” “We validated those marriages and you cannot retroactively invalidate marriages that you validated,” Mr. Martin said in an interview.

Former Toronto mayor David Miller said any move that called into question same-sex marriage legalities would embarrass Canada in front of the world by upsetting the lives of couples who flocked to the city for marriages they had been denied in their home countries.

I hope the matter is quickly and totally resolved to affirm all marriages conducted in Canada. I also hope the swift and powerful reaction will make it clear to the reactionary elements in Canada that there is no going back to the bad old days of legalized discrimination.