With the unrelenting media masturbation over Michael Jackson’s death it can be hard to find real news. Well, here’s one that actually may affect people: The Saskatchewan Party government has put forth a proposal that would give the province’s marriage commissioners the right to refuse to perform same-sex marriages.
The proposed law would make sure that a marriage commissioner would be available to perform the ceremony should another be too offended (morally or religiously) to perform the task.
Refusing to perform an otherwise legal marriage is simply discrimination!
Saskatchewan’s Justice Minister and Attorney General Don Morgan has said he will ask the province’s Court of Appeal if the proposed legislation flouts Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Morgan said there are two options being put on the legislative table, “One would grandfather the existing marriage commissioners that are reluctant or unwilling to perform a same-sex marriage and the second option would grant religious exemption for not only the existing ones, but for future marriage commissioners that would have the same concerns.”
This has been an on-going issue in Saskatchewan for a number of years. Last year, the Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal ordered marriage commissioner Orville Nichols to pay $2,500 in compensation after refusing to officiate a gay couple’s nuptials. Nichols said he refused on the basis of his religious beliefs.
I don’t talk much about my personal life in this blog but I will say this: my husband and I were married at Toronto’s City Hall two years ago and we experienced nothing but joyous acceptance and smiles as we went through the marriage process. It seems obvious that the city vetted its marriage commissioners and JOP’s to ensure they weren’t morally or religiously conflicted. If Orville Nichols finds himself in a religious dilemma, perhaps he should only perform marriages in the church.
Second to this, if a marriage commissioner has a moral objection to a mixed race couple’s nuptials, will he or she have the right to refuse and be protected legally? I get the feeling that would be deemed an egregious case of discrimination.
Hopefully Saskatchewan’s courts can put this to rest and align the province’s public servants with the rest of the nation and with out Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
