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Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. As of 2023, marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 34 countries that have a total population of about 1.35 billion people, with the most recent being Andorra.
Same-sex marriage in Canada was progressively introduced in several provinces and territories by court decisions beginning in 2003 before being legally recognized nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act on July 20, 2005. On June 10, 2003, the Court of Appeal for Ontario issued a decision immediately legalizing same-sex marriage in Ontario, thereby becoming the first province where it was legal. The introduction of a federal gender-neutral marriage definition made Canada the fourth country in the world, and the first country outside Europe, to legally recognize same-sex marriage throughout its borders. Before the federal recognition of same-sex marriage, court decisions had already introduced it in eight out of ten provinces and one of three territories, whose residents collectively made up about 90 percent of Canada's population. More than 3,000 same-sex couples had already married in those areas before the Civil Marriage Act was passed. Most legal benefits commonly associated with marriage had been extended to cohabiting same-sex couples since 1999.
Egale Canada is an advocacy organization founded in 1986 by Les McAfee to advance equality for Canadian lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and their families, across Canada.
Same-sex marriage in Yukon has been legal since July 14, 2004, immediately following a ruling from the Supreme Court of Yukon. The territory became the fourth jurisdiction in Canada to legalise same-sex marriage, after the provinces of Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. Yukon was the first of Canada's three territories to legalise same-sex marriage, and the only one to do so before the federal legalisation of same-sex marriage in July 2005 by the Parliament of Canada.
Same-sex marriage in Ontario has been legal since June 10, 2003. The first legal same-sex marriages performed in Ontario were of Kevin Bourassa to Joe Varnell, and Elaine Vautour to Anne Vautour, by Reverend Brent Hawkes on January 14, 2001. The legality of the marriages was questioned and they were not registered until after June 10, 2003, when the Court of Appeal for Ontario in Halpern v Canada (AG) upheld a lower court ruling which declared that defining marriage in heterosexual-only terms violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Same-sex marriage in British Columbia became legal on July 8, 2003, after a series of court rulings which ultimately landed in favour of same-sex couples seeking marriage licences. This made British Columbia the second province in Canada after Ontario, as well as the second jurisdiction in North America, to legalise same-sex marriage.
Same-sex marriage in Saskatchewan became legal on November 5, 2004 as a result of a decision of the Family Law Division of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench. This decision followed similar cases in six other provinces and territories, and pre-dated by eight months the federal Civil Marriage Act of 2005, which made same-sex marriage available throughout Canada. Later court decisions have dealt with the issue of marriage commissioners who object to performing same-sex marriages on the basis of their religious beliefs.
Same-sex marriage in New Brunswick has been legal since June 23, 2005 in accordance with a ruling from the Court of Queen's Bench of New Brunswick. This decision followed similar cases in eight other provinces and territories, and pre-dated by only one month the federal Civil Marriage Act of 2005, which legalised same-sex marriage throughout Canada. New Brunswick became the ninth jurisdiction in Canada to recognise same-sex marriage, and the twelfth worldwide.
Brent Hawkes, is a Canadian clergyman and gay rights activist.
Canadian lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights are some of the most extensive in the world. Same-sex sexual activity was made lawful in Canada on June 27, 1969, when the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968–69 was brought into force upon royal assent. In a landmark decision in 1995, Egan v Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada held that sexual orientation is constitutionally protected under the equality clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In 2005, Canada was the fourth country in the world, and the first in the Americas, to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.
M v H [1999] 2 S.C.R. 3, is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on the rights of same-sex couples to equal treatment under the Constitution of Canada.
Joseph Wershba was a professional journalist who joined the CBS News team in 1944, where he served as a writer, editor and correspondent. He was one of the six original producers of CBS's 60 Minutes from 1968 to 1988.
The Family Law Act is a statute passed by the Legislature of Ontario in 1990, regulating the rights of spouses and dependants in regard to property, support, inheritance, prenuptial agreements, separation agreements, and other matters of family law. In 1999, this statute was the subject of a watershed ruling in M. v. H. by the Supreme Court of Canada that established the equality of spousal rights for same-sex couples under Canadian law.
Harvey Brownstone is a retired judge of the Ontario Court of Justice and the first openly gay judge in Canada. He is also a bestselling author and host of a television and internet talk show.
The Equality Rights Statute Amendment Act,, commonly known as Bill 167, was a proposed law in the Canadian province of Ontario, introduced by the government of Bob Rae in 1994, which would have provided same-sex couples with rights and obligations mostly equal to those of opposite-sex common law couples by amending the definition of "spouse" in 79 provincial statutes. Despite the changes, the bill did not formally confer same-sex marriage rights in the province, as the definition of marriage in Canada is under federal jurisdiction; instead, the bill proposed a status similar to civil unions for same-sex couples, although it was not explicitly labelled as such since the term was not yet in widespread international use.
Harvey Thomas Strosberg, is a Canadian lawyer. He is a senior partner at the law firm of Strosberg, Sasso, Sutts LLP.
This is a timeline of notable events in the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in the United States.
Philip Michael Epstein is a Canadian family law lawyer.
Malcolm M. Mercer is a Canadian lawyer who served as Treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario from June 2018 until June 2020. He was first elected as Treasurer of the Law Society on June 28, 2018 and re-elected on June 27, 2019. The Treasurer is the highest elected official of the Law Society of Ontario, which regulates Ontario’s 50,000 lawyers and paralegals in the public interest. The Treasurer presides over Convocation, the Law Society’s governing board, chairing and setting the agenda for its meetings and establishing Convocation committees. The Treasurer is elected each year at the June meeting of Convocation. Treasurers generally serve two terms.
Todd McCarthy is a Canadian lawyer and politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2022 provincial election. He represents the riding of Durham as a Member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. McCarthy was also named Parliamentary Assistant to the President of the Treasury Board Prabmeet Sarkaria. In addition to his Parliamentary Assistant Role, he was appointed, Deputy Government Whip and is a Member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
References
- ↑ Alderson, Kevin; Lahey, Kathleen A. (May 2004). Same-Sex Marriage: The Personal and the Political. Insomniac Press. pp. 80–81. ISBN 1-894663-63-2.
- ↑ "Martha McCarthy to Receive OBA Award for Excellence in Family Law". Ontario Bar Association. May 17, 2007. Archived from the original on March 15, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-23.
