We recently reported Slate author Jillian Keenan's opinion that "the fight doesn’t end with same-sex marriage. We need to legalize polygamy, too."
Well, just in case anyone should think this is idle speculation and thought experiment, consider news coming out of Canada today:
A Canadian court is assembling an unprecedented set of testimonies and legal briefs about the pros and cons of polygamy. The goal is to answer the question of whether Canada’s anti-polygamy law is constitutional.
But, as the story reveals, there is still cause for hope. The case to legalize polygamous unions faces an uphill battle, against some formidable forces -- for example, the scholarship of Professor Joseph Henrich from the University of British Columbia.
Henrich has written of monogamy that it is "one of the foundations of Western civilization, and may explain why democratic ideals and notions of human rights first emerged as a Western phenomenon."
This much, at least, is not news to us. Let's hope that the Court recognizes this fact enshrined in the tradition of marriage, too.
Patrick Craine, Canadian Bureau Chief of LifeSiteNews, promotes our latest MarriageADA video on the threat of same-sex marriage infringing on the rights of parents:
Just as Ontario’s new Premier Kathleen Wynne has announced plans to reintroduce an explicit sex-ed program, the Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance, and our friend Damian Goddard have released a great video about a striking case where exactly this type of program has been used as a battering ram against parental rights.
... It’s bad enough that this stuff would be taught in the classroom at all – why not let parents judge for themselves when their kids are ready to discuss sex? – but now there’s an increasingly entrenched opposition to even informing parents when it comes up.
The video is an interview with Dr. Steve Tourloukis. Tourloukis asked the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board to be told when his kids would be discussing same-sex “marriage” and other controversial issues in the classroom, but they said to do so would be a violation of “human rights.” So he’s taking them to court to get a declaration that the parent has primary authority over his children’s education.
The school board, amazingly, has the gall to oppose him in court on even such a basic proposition.
This type of abuse by schools is coming to cities across North America and the West, so parents need to be ready. Our children’s hearts and souls depend on it.
A Supreme Court of Canada decision that upheld Quebec's laws which provide rights to married couples that do not apply to couples merely living together has been applauded by pro-family organizations as a recognition of the unique and distinctive role that true marriage plays in society.
In what has become known as the Eric and Lola case, pseudonyms designed to protect the couple’s three children, the court ruled that the Quebec law that excludes cohabiting couples from receiving spousal support in the event of relationship breakdown is constitutional and does not discriminate against couples who choose to live together without the benefit of marriage.
In a close 5-4 decision, Chief Justice Beverley McLaughlin wrote, "Those who choose to marry choose the protections, but also the responsibilities, associated with that status. Those who choose not to marry avoid these state-imposed responsibilities and protections."
The Institute of Marriage and Family Canada (IMFC) says that the decision accurately reflects the social science research which shows marriage to be substantively different from living common law.
Today the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Quebec can exclude cohabiting couples from receiving spousal support in the event of relationship breakdown.
The Institute of Marriage and Family Canada applauds this decision because it accurately reflects the fact that social science research shows marriage to be substantively different from living common law.
“There is great consensus from social scientists, no matter their political stripe, that marriage is different from living together,” says IMFC Manager of Research Andrea Mrozek. “Unfortunately, the statistical reality is that people living together break up more readily – even if they do eventually wed. They are more likely to have multiple partners. Their children face more problems – higher rates of school dropout, more drug use and an earlier age of sexual initiation. And single parents – typically mothers – are more likely to be poor. These are some of the harsh statistical realities of living together versus getting married, and it is wise to acknowledge this difference,” says Mrozek.
Marriage protects against poverty and remains the most stable manner in which to raise children. Some researchers have even identified that a new class division is emerging along married versus unmarried lines. This is the message of author Kay Hymowitz’s book, Marriage and Caste in America.
Parents and ratepayers in a Hamilton area school board will never know exactly what a homosexual activist told their children during a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) assembly a year ago.
The Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) of Ontario upheld last week the decision of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) to “deny access to the record” of the speech.
Suresh Dominic of Campaign Life Catholics told LifeSiteNews.com that parents of school children should be “outraged that they have been denied the right to know what is being taught to their children.”
Last November, a certified teacher named Laura Wolfson was invited as a guest speaker at a school-wide GSA held at Parkside High School in Dundas. Wolfson reportedly identified herself to the 400 students as a lesbian “youth worship leader” from a synagogue and held herself out to be an authority on Old Testament Scripture.
Wolfson allegedly sought to discredit Catholic teaching on homosexuality by suggesting that since the eating of fish on Fridays was no longer adhered to, neither should biblical teachings on homosexuality.
Bradley Miller, associated professor of law at the University of Western Ontario, has written an extensive piece in Public Discourse on what same-sex marriage has wrought in Canada -- here's the brief introduction:
"The effects of same-sex civil marriage in Canada—restrictions on free speech rights, parental rights in education, and autonomy rights of religious institutions, along with a weakening of the marriage culture—provide lessons for the United States."
The National Post interviews NOM's Spokesman Damian Goddard about his continued pro-marriage activism after being fired for his pro-marriage tweet:
Q Why are you, as a Canadian, appearing in American election ads about gay marriage?
A I think it’s important in this day and age, especially for people of faith, to stand up for what they believe in — especially something as organic as marriage being defined as between one man and one woman. I think it’s vitally important in a free society to be able to not only express your deep-held beliefs but to also not be afraid to appear in a commercial or take to Twitter and social media.
Q And how are those ads performing?
A We are grossly being outspent, but from what we get on the ground, there is a major grassroots support for marriage being between a man and a woman. We feel confidently that, as it’s been done in the previous 31 states, that we’ll go four for four.
Q Now you’ve had some backlash in the past week since the ads came out — were you surprised by that?
A Not at all. The hate is still there, but as I’ve tried to calmly state on social media and in emails, there’s nothing that’s going to deter me. Being called names is not going to stop me from partaking in the awesome privilege of expressing myself.
Public Education Advocates for Christian Equity Phil Lees gives Minnesota For Marriage and the Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC) an exclusive interview detailing the consequences of redefining marriage and the effect that has had on schools, education and children in Canada.
His exclusive interview is a part of an event sponsored by MCC giving Minnesotans an idea of "What the future looks like if marriage in Minnesota is redefined -- A Canadian Perspective."
"Panelists included The Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast, Archbishop of Ottawa, Ontario; Damian Goddard, a celebrated former sportscaster from Ontario who was fired for simply tweeting his support for traditional marriage; Phil Lees, founder of Public Education Advocates for Christian Equity; Albertos Polizogopoulos, Lawyer and Advocate, and Dr. Steve Tourloukis, a Christian parent who experienced firsthand the selective erosion of religious freedom and parental rights in the Canadian education system after the struggle to defend traditional marriage was lost."
Kalley Yanta of the Minnesota Marriage Minute takes a more in-depth look at what has happened in Canada since redefining marriage:
"To start, there have been hundreds of Canadian proceedings in courts, human rights commissions and employment boards, against critics and opponents of same-sex marriage. Religious groups and leaders have been punished. For instance, the Archbishop of Calgary was forced to answer to the Alberta human rights commission for preaching the Church's teaching on marriage."
A religious leader from Canada visited the Twin Cities Monday to speak out against gay marriage.
The Archbishop of Ottawa spoke at the University of St. Thomas, where the Minnesota Catholic Conference is underway.
Archbishop Terrance Prendergast says he’s here because of Minnesota’s upcoming vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and he’s encouraging citizens to vote yes in November.
Canada’s parliament legalized same sex marriage several years ago. Prendergast says since then, the people of Canada’s religious freedoms have been under attack.
Prendergast was among several guests from Canada who talked about what they say are consequences of legalizing gay marriage.
The archbishop says businesses have been fined for turning away same sex couples. He claims Catholic schools that are publicly funded have no choice but to allow students to be a part of gay and lesbian clubs, even though it’s something they don’t believe in.
He points out voters in Canada didn’t get a choice, but voters in Minnesota do.
A few years ago, when the gay-marriage bandwagon got rolling, some of us argued that “if the sex of the participants is no longer relevant, why should the number be?” The same-sex-marriage crowd swatted the polygamy shtick aside as utterly irrelevant, even though there are far more takers for polygamy than there will ever be for gay marriage, and it is, de facto, already recognized to one degree or another by multiculti types in the British Government pensions department and the French welfare system.
So here we are in 2012, and the Toronto District School Board has a new poster called “Love Has No Gender“, full of happy couples but also happy triples. This poster is in every Toronto grade school.
Statistics Canada has admitted that “there may be an overestimation” in the number of same-sex ‘married’ couples from the 2011 census, after the government agency mistakenly counted some same gender roommates as gay couples.
Stats Canada warned that the census data should be “used with caution.”
While same-sex couples — both ‘married’ and common law — accounted for merely 0.8% of all couples in 2011, the numbers showed same-sex ‘married’ couples nearly tripled: that is, until analyzers realized that many of the “couples” polled may have been migrant workers who were splitting rent with other migrant workers of the same gender and who both happened to be married, but not to each other.
Statistics Canada noted today that it may have overestimated the number of same-sex ‘married’ couples by 4,500.
“We observed that there was a possible over estimation of same-sex families,” said census manager Marc Hamel to The Globe and Mail. “The counts for some smaller communities seemed too high.”
Hamel noted that the number of ‘married’ same-sex couples seemed especially high in places like Alberta and Saskatchewan where rent sharers who left a wife back home could have been counted as a couple.
“We seem to observe that [trend] in more transient communities where we have a lot of temporary workers coming in. So it could be people living together, for example, and reporting each other as married, but not necessarily to each other.”
One of the Ontario government’s lead trainers and advisors on its controversial equity and inclusive education strategy says attempts by parents to withdraw their children from objectionable classes on sexuality is an “attack” on inclusivity in the schools.
The comment was made to the Toronto Star Monday by Chris D’Souza, the chair of the Equity Summit Group, a former teacher in the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, and an equity trainer who has led sessions in over a dozen Catholic school boards across Ontario.
This LifeSiteNews reporter questioned D’Souza about the comment Tuesday, asking also his view on policies adopted by the Toronto District School Board and the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board that forbid parents from withdrawing children from classes dealing with homosexuality.
In reply, he said simply: “Here is your quote Patrick: You are all clutching at straws and have lost the battle.”
A Church of Christ minister who has been responsible for civic marriage ceremonies at Cambridge city hall for the past 15 years is facing the axe if she doesn’t agree to perform same-sex “marriages.”
Rev. Jay Brown told LifeSiteNews that city council voted 8 to 1 Monday night on a motion, brought forward by Councillor Donna Reid, that Brown be forced to officiate at homosexual “marriages” or they would issue a “request for proposal” to find a replacement.
Rev. Brown explained that as a minister of the Church of Christ she must follow the precepts of her church, which does not allow homosexual “marriage,” but that she was always ready to accommodate same-sex couples by recommending a designated minister who would be happy to perform the ceremony.
“I have nothing against gay people, in fact a member of my family is gay,” Brown said in an interview with LifeSiteNews, “but I represent my church, which does not allow same-sex marriage.”
“My church won’t allow me to. I haven’t had to make that decision,” she said, adding that in the years since homosexual “marriage” was legalized in Canada she has been asked only a few times to perform same-sex “marriages.”
Well, just in case anyone should think this is idle speculation and thought experiment, consider news coming out of Canada today:
A Supreme Court of Canada decision that upheld Quebec's laws which provide rights to married couples that do not apply to couples merely living together has been applauded by pro-family organizations as a recognition of the unique and distinctive role that true marriage plays in society.
Today the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Quebec can exclude cohabiting couples from receiving spousal support in the event of relationship breakdown.
A few years ago, when the gay-marriage bandwagon got rolling, some of us argued that “
One of the Ontario government’s lead trainers and advisors on its controversial equity and inclusive education strategy says attempts by parents to withdraw their children from objectionable classes on sexuality is an “attack” on inclusivity in the schools.
Rev. Jay Brown told LifeSiteNews that city council voted 8 to 1 Monday night on a motion, brought forward by Councillor Donna Reid, that Brown be forced to officiate at homosexual “marriages” or they would issue a “request for proposal” to find a replacement.
