Marriage gays!

As for the new immigrants, it was surprising that many took a very liberal view of the same-sex issue, writes Gurmukh Singh.

With its Parliament passing Bill C-38 this week, Canada has joined three other European nations - Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain - to allow gays and lesbians to marry.

With this ends the three-year-old noisy debate and begins another chapter in the history of this country that is witnessing a sharp polarization on the so-called moral issues.

That's what happened in America during the Bush presidency. 

The new law allows gays and lesbians to get married in courts, city halls or any other public place.

And they will enjoy all the benefits that are bestowed upon heterosexual couples.

Interestingly, the Canadian military already allows same-sex unions.

The same-sex marriage issued heated up three years ago when the highest Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that denying the same-sex couples the right to marry was unconstitutional and violated the Charter of Rights.

Then the courts in seven provinces went on to allow the same-sex couples the same rights as given to heterosexual couples.

The Liberal party (the same party that is ruling now), then led by Jean Chretien, was ambivalent about civil union rights to gay and lesbian couples (at one time the party had opposed giving this right to gays and lesbians), but decide not to appeal the Ontario ruling in the federal Supreme Court.

Instead, the party sought the apex court's opinion on enacting a federal law to allow the same-sex couple to marry. The Supreme Court said it would be perfectly all right for the federal government to enact such a law.

Hence began the process to enact the same-sex marriage law.

But the bill became the most divisive issue in Canadian history, with political parties and religious leaders joining the debate. Church leaders, particularly in Calgary, Toronto and Montreal, called the move un-Christian and urged boycott of the MPs who favoured the bill. They wrote to Prime Minister Paul Martin to wait for a period of five years to debate the issue. Some wanted it to put to a referendum.

The evangelical Christians in America jumped to the support of their counterparts up north. Many Jewish, Muslim and Sikh organizations also joined hands with them to oppose the bill.

The main opposition Conservative Party, led by Stephen Harper, which came close to toppling this minority government early this year on budget proposals, saw a big opportunity to cut ice with visible minorities who have traditionally voted for the Liberal party because of its liberal immigration policy.

The Tories (Conservative party) ran an advertisement campaign in Italian, Chinese, Punjabi, etc., papers to tell these communities how their party stood for traditional values and how the Liberal party was destroying age-old institutions such as marriage.

The issue also embroiled the Canadian Sikh community when the Akal Takht Jathedar in Amritsar raised this issue during Prime Minister Martin's truncated visit to New Delhi just after the tsunami tragedy. The Sikh clergy urged Canadian Sikh MPs (there are as many as six in the House of Commons today) not to support this ``unnatural act.'' 

Gurbax Malhi, who represents an Ontario seat for the ruling Liberal party, said he would go by the jathedar's diktat. On the other hand, Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and young MP Navdeep Bains said it was Canada's internal matter and that the bill favoured only a minority (gays and lesbians) like the Sikhs.

And Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks that such acts (gay unions) are not supported in India further inflamed the issue, putting his guest (Martin) on the defensive. Poor Martin!

Before he could return home, the sex-sex bill had already become a hot-button issue, with religious leaders of all hues arraigned against him. All surveys showed that while the younger people favored the bill, support for it waned among the elderly groups. Again, it became a rural-urban issue, with urban Canada favouring the bill and the rural people opposing it. And it is rural Canada from where the opposition Conservative party garners much of its support (read Alberta).

Where does the same-sex law take Canadian politics and the country that gets more than 200,000 new immigrants each from traditional societies like India and China?

The Conservative party says it will not let the issue die and will work to preserve the traditional definition of marriage. And it is a sure bet that the Christian conservatives in America --- where they were instrumental in the defeat of the same-sex proposal in 11 states during the 2004 presidential poll -- will become more active in support of faith-based Canadian groups.

But then you cannot ignore the fact that Canada is a country that is becoming more and more urbanized. And in cities, the Conservatives don't have much support. So Canada's liberal march will find more and more support among its people.

As for the new immigrants, it was surprising that many took a very liberal view of the same-sex issue during the debate. And their second and third generations were least bothered about it.