Gay marriage may be as significant as the 1929 case when women were held to be persons within the constitution of Canada, but some queers are questioning the effect of marriage on the uniqueness of queer lives, love and relationships.

Queers in Canada won a victory for legal equality on June 10, 2003, when the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the government of Ontario must immediately perform and recognize same-sex marriages. Instead of appealing, the federal government is soliciting an opinion from the Supreme Court of Canada on a draft bill that would allow gay and lesbian couples to legally wed. The British Columbia Court of Appeal opened the door for queers to marry in that province. Quebec is expected to follow shortly.

The Battle Escalates

The Canadian Alliance introduced a symbolic motion in the House of Commons calling on Parliament to reaffirm the heterosexuals-only definition of marriage and to use the Notwithstanding Clause to overrule any Supreme Court decision allowing lesbians and gays to marry. The motion was defeated 132 to 137, but it succeeded in flushing out where Liberal MPs stood on the issue. The Alliance plans to keep using this wedge tactic by introducing similar bills in hopes of building opposition and keeping the issue alive.

Conservative churches and other religious-based groups organized demonstrations and lobbies in opposition to same-sex marriage and to NDP MP Svend Robinson’s private member’s Bill C-250, which will add sexual orientation to the list of protected categories under Canada’s anti-hate crimes law. The Canadian Alliance claims that churches would be forced to perform same-sex marriages against their will and Bill C-250 would prevent religious teachings that homosexuality is sinful.

Both allegations are lies. The proposed same-sex marriage law will not force churches to marry anyone they do not want to. Bill C-250 passed with a unanimous amendment exempting religious texts quoted “in good faith” from being classified as hate propaganda.

On August 22, several thousand anti-gay protesters marched on Parliament Hill and 1,000 marched in Halifax a few weeks later. Calls to pray outside MP’s constituency offices were met with little support, however, and the queer community has organized counter-rallies in response.

There was pushing and shoving on the steps of the Alberta legislature on September 21 as hundreds of protesters from both sides of the debate confronted each other. On August 16 in Vancouver, approximately 1,400 animated queers occupied half the steps of the courthouse in a hastily planned counter-demonstration against 4,000 well financed religious fundamentalists who opposed same-sex marriage and Bill C-250. The dour fundamentalists soon abandoned their half of the steps after having been humiliated by the superior wit, style and sauciness of the queer contingent.

Throughout the summer, the victory for gay marriage was celebrated at gay and lesbian pride parades across the country. There was a noticeable increase in participation of Gay Pride parades in smaller centres. Halifax gay pride saw its attendance numbers triple this year. Organizers credit the increased turn out to excitement over the recent court victories and to homophobic remarks made by Conservative MP Elsie Wayne that gays should “shut up” about their “lifestyle”. In Wayne’s own constituency in Saint John, NB, 300 people marched and 1,500 attended the first pride parade ever in that city.

Polarizing and Unifying

The fight for equal marriage rights is polarizing public opinion while unifying the queer community. barbara findlay, a lawyer who works extensively on lesbian and gay issues, thinks,

"Though some parts of the queer community resisted the idea of same-sex marriage cases when they were first begun, on the ground that to seek the right to marry was an assimilationist strategy which would ultimately contribute to, not address, the inequalities experienced by gays and lesbians, that opposition has largely evaporated. Today, queers say, ‘I am not in favour of marriage. But I am in favour of equality.’ Ironically, it is the fury of the right which has crystallized the issue as one of equality, and one of civil rights for queers."

Another view

blain butyniec, from the direct action group Queers United Against Kapitalism (QUAK), is more skeptical. “QUAK members felt it was important to follow the bigots on their [August 16] march and counter their message. While the organizers of the counter-rally encouraged everyone to stay behind, some of us started following the homophobes. A small group of us was quickly surrounded by a dozen cops, and only a couple people from the queer rally came to our support. The rest of the crowd was content to let the young queers be left with a bunch of police.”

“It’s ironic,” he says, “that a group who doesn’t really support the notion of same-sex marriage is on the front lines of that fight, with no support from the broader queer community who really want to get married. That’s a division I think you are starting to see more and more in the queer community – those who fight for the rights and equality of all in the queer community, and those who fight for their own individual rights as queers. It was encouraging that by the end we had attracted a good hundred or so queers to continue challenging the homophobes.”

Changing society

As for how this victory for gay marriage will impact other social movements for change, barbara findlay figures it will be as significant as the 1929 “Persons” case, when women were held to be persons within the constitution of Canada. “It means that the equality rights section of the Charter is as strong as it needs to be. But the Charter does not address economic inequality. So while it is crucial for groups who have faced legalized discrimination to be able to address that discrimination and win, Charter remedies will always leave untouched the basic economic disparities in the country.”

Militants like blain butyniec agree same-sex marriage will bring “some measure of progress, [but are] there not other ways to achieve these rights - and what will the long-term effect of married queers be on the uniqueness of queer lives, love and relationships?”

What does blain think the focus of the queer liberation movement should be? “Not marriage. I think the queer liberation movement must fight against heterosexism in all its forms. But we must have a much broader approach than ‘queer.’ Generally, when gays or queers are referred to, it means middle to upper class white men. The queer community used to be about diversity, and now it’s about pretty white boys.”

“So I think we need to look internally as well, and fight this generalized notion of who is queer,” he says. “I feel more solidarity with other working class folks than I do with the ‘gaygeoise’ (what we call middle and upper class queers).”

“I think queer liberation includes an anti-poverty analysis, more focus on trans-rights, [more support for] queer youth, anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, anti-war. I think a lot of queers in Canada have lost all perspective.”