|
Please
have a look at our web site about
the 8 BC litigant couples and the
Canadian case to fight for same-sex
marriage rights at http://www.queermarriage.com.
Our
wedding was featured in the January
2004 issue of Girlfriends Magazine
(USA). An article we're part of appeared
recently in Maclean's Magazine (March
2004) called Mrs. and Mrs. in a Gay
Mecca (Canada). Also our case is featured
in the documentary Why Thee Wed, a
National Film Board of Canada 2005
release, and we were interviewed for
The Bulletin, a Journal of Japanese
Canadian Community, History and Culture,
March 2005 (http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/jcca/).
Joy
and I and the other BC litigants were
intervenors in the federal government's
reference about same-sex marriage
before the Supreme Court of Canada
in early October 2004. Joy and I flew
to Ottawa to be present in the courtroom
for this historic reference.
We're
married, we're really married! Joy
and I wed in Toronto June 28 2003
in a double ceremony with BC litigant
couple, and our good friends, Tanya
and Melinda Chambers-Roy!
We
were a little unnerved when the date
for the Canadian federal election
was our first anniversary. Fortunately
for gays and lesbians around the world,
the Liberals got back in, albeit in
a minority government.
Jane,
Tanya, Joy June 28 2003 photo
Randall Rae
That
was just a small legal ceremony, but
we followed it up with a float in
Vancouver Pride 2003 on August 2nd.
Stanley Park Tours donated a 24-seater
horse-drawn carriage.
Jane
and Joy behind the Marriage Carriage
'You
Always Knew Weddings Were a Drag',
which was our heartfelt vow renewal
and wedding reception where we asked
our guests to come as members of a
wedding party (and five brides showed
up), took place on August 9 2003 in
Vancouver at the lovely 1015 W 16th.
B+B owned and run by our hosts extraordinaire
Philip Seth and Peter Eastwood. It
was a beautiful night, and we've never
been happier. Some guests came in
drag, and so did some of our bridal
party! Along with our six attendant
women, we had six fetching dragmaids.
We danced the night away to Johnny
Ferreira and the Swing Machine.
"
Joy, left,
and Jane on their wedding day
dragmaids
l-r: Bill Richardson, David Yadlowski,
Peter Eastwood, Philip Seth, Gary
Lewis, Randy Rae; ringbearer: Angus
Broberg-Hull; brides Aug 9 2003
l-r:
Sarah Hamilton, daughter; Jane, Joy,
Meghann Hamilton, daughter
Backgrounder
There
is wonderful news from Canada. Queers
can marry! Legally marry!
In
Canada we have a Charter of Rights
and Freedoms which is a living tree--which
is to say it's malleable. Over the
past three years nineteen couples
(8 in BC, 10 in Ontario, 1 in Quebec)
challenged the federally based common
(or judge-made) law that stated marriage
was between one man and one woman.
The first case to be heard, in British
Columbia where my wife Joy Masuhara
and I were one of the eight petitioning
couples, in July 2001, was lost badly.
We appealed and were heard in February
2003. In the meantime, the two other
cases (Ontario and Quebec) were heard
and sweepingly won at the lower court
level. The courts had the power to
change federal, judge-made law, and
so did, but ordered the remedy (ssmarriage)
to be suspended until July 12 2004.
The federal government, citing confusion
and disagreement over the issue even
at the judicial level, appealed these
two rulings.
The
BC Appeal Court released its ruling
May 1 2003. In a majority decision,
the justices overturned the discriminatory
definition of marriage as between
"one man and one woman"
and rewrote it as "two persons".
However, they gave the federal government
a year and two months to bring in
legislation that would codify this
and suspended the ruling until July
12 2004 to jive with the Ontario court.
Couples began to plan their weddings.
On
June 10, 2003, the Ontario Appeal
Court went a step further, lifting
the suspension and making same-sex
marriage a reality immediately. The
MCCT marriages performed in 2001 were
immediately registered, and any requested
marriage licences were to be issued
without delay. An Ontario litigant
couple named Michael Stark and Michael
Leshner were married that same day.
Other couples quickly followed.
The
ruling threw the country into chaos.
Was same-sex marriage legal elsewhere,
given that the only bar to it, a federal
one, had been overturned? Probably
so, but no other province would agree
to issue licences, prefering to wait
safely until some government body
compelled them to do so. The federal
government chose not to appeal the
court decisions and pulled out of
the upcoming appeal in Quebec. They
told the provinces to begin issuing
licences posthaste, though no province
did.
The
BC Partners, a group of three of the
BC couples, asked the BC Appeal Court
to reopen their appeal as concerns
remedy and lift the suspension. This
case was decided on July 8 2003, with
the justices lifting the suspension
and making the remedy--same-sex marriage
in BC--effective immediately! No litigants
were available to be the first couple
married in this province. Many had
already planned their weddings for
next summer. Some weren't ready. Others,
like us, had already wed in Ontario.
So longtime couple Tom Graff and Antony
Porcino stepped into the breach. As
soon as the decision came down, they
applied for and were granted a marriage
licence. They spoke their vows at
the courthouse under the statue of
Justice. Congratulations, Tom and
Antony!
Meantime,
the three litigant couples from BC
who couldn't wait and travelled to
Ontario to wed were Elizabeth and
Dawn Barbeau from the BC Partners
(June 21 2003). My partner Joy Masuhara
and I of the BC Partners wed in a
joint ceremony with Tanya and Melinda
Chambers-Roy (represented by Egale)
in Toronto on June 28 2003 during
Pride festivities.
Joy
Masuhara and Jane Hamilton May 2 2003
Globe and Mail front page by John
Lehmann
The
couples in the British Columbia case
are longtime activist couple Murray
and Peter Corren (married summer 2004),
adoptive dads of son Brent; Elizabeth
and Dawn Barbeau; and my partner,
Etsuko Joy Masuhara, and me, Jane
Eaton Hamilton. In 1997, after British
Columbia changed its adoption laws
to allow same-sex couples to adopt,
Joy adopted my two biological daughters,
Sarah and Meghann. We three couples
("The BC Partners") are
represented at the lower court level
by barbara findlay and Kathleen Lahey
and at the upper court level by Kathleen
Lahey, law professor at Queen's University.
The
other couples are represented by Egale
Canada, Inc, (who hired lawyers Joe
Arvay and Cynthia Peterson): Teresa
Healy and Wendy Young from Prince
George (married summer 2003), Robin
Roberts and Diana Denny of Victoria
(married summer 2004), and Vancouver
couples Lloyd Thornhill and Bob Peacock
(married summer 2004), Shane McCloskey
and Dave Shortt, and Melinda and Tanya
Chambers-Roy (married summer 2003).
For
a run-down on the legal arguments
put forth by the various participants
in the case and the full legal ruling
see
www.egale.ca
Joy and I are available for interviews
or can pass media along to other available
couples. As well, we would be delighted
to speak to your community group and
answer any questions you might have
about same-sex marriage. You can contact
us at:
74056
Hillcrest Park, Vancouver, BC Canada
V5V 5C8 604/435-9585
|
