NDP turns BC gay couples into "spouses".

On July 21 and 22, the BC legislature passed Bills 31 and 32, which contained a re-definition of "spouse" to include homosexual "partners." Other provincial laws will now be made to conform to the new definition. The change follows the government's decision last year to allow same-sex couples to adopt children.

BC is the only North American jurisdiction to define "spouse" in this way. A similar plan by the Ontario NDP failed in 1994 in the face of widespread opposition. The United States Congress recently passed legislation protecting individual states from having to recognize homosexual "marriage."

Only eight Liberal MLAs, and Progressive Democratic Alliance leader Gordon Wilson, out of a total 75 members of the legislature, voted against the measures, which were initiated and strongly defended by the NDP government.

The change was not made without a fight, however. On June 17, Vancouver's Archbishop Adam Exner called on Catholics in BC to protest the bills. He said he felt it was "imperative that Catholics raise their voices with others in protesting this drastic attack on the sacredness of marriage and the family," and that the legislation "flagrantly contradicts our Catholic faith and the natural law implanted in all human hearts."

On July 3, all six BC bishops signed a statement called The Family and the Dignity of the Human Person, in which the sacredness and social importance of marriage and the family was defended against the nonsensical notion of homosexual "marriage."

Next, an interfaith coalition, convened by Michael Markwick of the Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL), issued a Joint Affirmation on the Sacredness of Marriage at a press conference July 10. The statement was similar to the bishops' statement, and was signed by representatives of 22 faith communities, including Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs. The coalition had earlier requested to meet with BC Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh to express their concerns, but he refused.

Finally, a MarkTrend poll commissioned by the CCRL showed 61% of British Columbians believe that "marriage is by nature heterosexual." (In fact, this phrase was taken from the Supreme Court of Canada's 1995 ruling in the Egan case. In a rare display of common sense, the high court actually ruled against the notion of homosexual "marriage.")

The NDP government, however, remains undaunted in its advocacy of the gay agenda. Commenting on the easy passage of Bills 31 and 32 through the legislature, Mr Dosanjh said, "I think we are quite enlightened as a people."

The NDP action is a direct result of the federal legislation of May, 1996, when then Justice Minister Allan Rock added "sexual orientation" to the Canadian Human Rights Code as a protected way of life.

Comment

We wonder whether pro-family groups in Canada, being so used to liberal-biased court decisions, have not overlooked the importance of the 1995 Supreme Court Egan decision. The ruling recognized that "marriage is by nature heterosexual," because opposite-sex couples "have the unique ability to procreate" and care for their children. It seems to us that this is a great victory for Canadian families, and Canadian society as a whole, in spite of the successful implementation of the gay agenda in so many other cases. Could the Egan ruling be the basis of a court challenge to Bills 31 and 32, and other anti-family initiatives? For that matter, could it be the basis of actually rolling back the ever-strengthening homosexualist culture in this country?