Same-Sex Marriage Legal in Nova Scotia!

OTTAWA (Reuters)
September 24, 2004

Nova Scotia on Friday became the fifth of Canada's 10 provinces to allow gay couples to marry when the provincial supreme court ruled that banning same-sex unions was unconstitutional.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that applause broke out in the courtroom in Halifax after Judge Heather Robertson announced her decision. Ottawa did not seek to challenge the ruling.

The growing number of provinces allowing gay marriage prompted the federal government last year to draw up draft legislation to legally redefine marriage.

It handed the draft over to Canada's Supreme Court, which will next week hear a case on whether the proposed legislation is constitutional. Earlier this month the Pope criticized Ottawa's initiative, saying it would create "a false understanding of the nature of marriage".

Canada's ruling Liberals say they had little choice after courts in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia -- home to 75 percent of all Canadians -- all struck down the old definition of marriage. The western province of Manitoba followed suit on Sept. 16 this year.

Robertson's ruling, which changes the definition of marriage in the Atlantic province to "the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others", came in response to a challenge by three couples.

Hundreds of same-sex couples, some traveling from the United States, have been married in Ontario since the province's supreme court ruled in June 2003 that the traditional definition of marriage should be thrown out.