Canadian bill would legalize gay marriage

TORONTO — Canada's government introduced a bill yesterday to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, describing it as a crucial protection for minorities despite deep divisions over the issue in Parliament and among citizens.

"The government cannot, and should not, pick and choose which rights they will defend and which rights they will ignore," Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said at a news conference in Ottawa after presenting the bill. "I appreciate the concern, sometimes even the anguish, that some Canadians feel."

Opinion polls show that Canada's population is almost evenly split, with a slight majority supporting same-sex marriage.

Prime Minister Paul Martin said that because courts have allowed gay marriage in eight of Canada's 13 provinces and territories, the government should ensure that there was no discrimination against gays in the remaining areas of the country.

The new legislation defines marriage as a civil union between two people, as opposed to the current definition of marriage between a man and a woman.

In December, Canada's Supreme Court ruled that excluding homosexual couples from marriage laws and benefits violates the country's Charter of Rights.

If the measure is passed, Canada would become the third country after Holland and Belgium to recognize same-sex marriage.

In early January, Toronto's Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, urged the prime minister not to go forward with the legislation. "Can we say with certainty what the social outcome of a redefinition of marriage would be?" he wrote in an open letter. "In all humility none of us can do so."

But gay citizens say the government is simply catching up with Canada's changing mores.

"Gay marriage has been legal in 80 percent of the country for two years now," said Mitchel Raphael, the editor of a Toronto-based gay magazine. "The other provinces and territories have such an insignificant number of gay people, the law will have more of a symbolic effect."

To pass, the measure needs 154 votes in Parliament. There are 308 seats in the body; one is vacant and the speaker votes only in case of a tie.

A poll by Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper released yesterday showed that 139 Parliament members intended to back the legislation. The Globe said 118 legislators were opposed, and 49 either were undecided or declined to state their position.