Manitoba Government Won't Fight
Three Same-Sex Marriage Bids

by Steve Lambert
CNEWS Canada

WINNIPEG (CP) - The Manitoba government won't oppose a court bid by three same-sex couples who want to get married, saying it's a matter for Ottawa, not Winnipeg.

"We will not oppose what they are seeking," Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh said in an interview Wednesday. "We see it as an issue between applicants and the federal government and we will not be defending the federal (marriage) law. We don't have an interest in opposing legally recognized rights of Canadians."

Three same-sex couples are taking the federal and provincial governments to court in a bid for the right to marry in Manitoba.

Courts in Ontario and other provinces have already weighed in on the subject, said Mackintosh.

"I think the weight of the decisions across the country have pointed to the conclusion that the current federal law is not in accordance with the Charter, so I am pleased that we're going to have some definitive ruling here in Manitoba."

The minister's comments were welcomed by gay-rights advocates, who said the court battle has a better chance of succeeding with the provincial government standing aside.

"It's certainly promising," said Cicely McWilliam, an outreach coordinator with the group Canadians for Equal Marriage in Toronto.

"In the end, a judge will hear the case and decide on the merits of the case, but it's certainly very positive."

It remains to be seen whether the federal government will oppose the legal action launched by the three Manitoba couples.

Federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler told the Canadian Bar Association earlier this month that Ottawa will no longer seek adjournments in such cases.

Until now, the federal government has wanted such lower-court cases to be put off until the Supreme Court of Canada rules on same-sex marriages.

The three Manitoba couples include Chris Vogel and Richard North, who tried to be officially married in a high-profile 1974 case but were denied.

Same-sex marriage is currently legal in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Yukon -a situation that Mackintosh says is not good.

"We have this patchwork right across the country of marriage law and of human rights and unfortunately that should not have been the development. There needed to be federal leadership on this issue."

Canadians For Equal Marriage said public and political opinion has shifted in recent years, and people are now more accepting of the gay mariage.

"The more Canadians get to know their lesbian and gay neighbours, the less it is an issue," said McWilliam.

"It just whittles away at fear and perhaps ignorance."