february 18.¿005 - jUSt OUt^1
trormnews
Courts already have legalized it in eight of
Canadas 13 provinces and territories—British
Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and
Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec,
Saskatchewan and the Yukon Territory.
“Canada is a land built on a tradition of
equality and respect,” said Justice Minister Irwin
Cotier. “The government cannot, and should
not, pick and choose which rights they will
defend and which rights they will ignore.”
Prime Minister Paul Martin said: “Canada is
a country where minorities are protected....
I don’t think this will change the way we live.
1 think this recognizes it’s already the law in
seven provinces with the majority of the Cana
dian population.”
A final vote may not take place for weeks or
months. If the measure passes, same-sex couples
in Alberta, New Brunswick, the Northwest Ter
ritories, Nunavut and Prince Edward Island also
will be able to get married.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Broadcasting
Corp, reported Feb. 2 that 10 percent of New
foundland and Labrador’s marriage commission
ers have resigned their positions to avoid having
to marry same-sex couples.
Numerous people have signed up to replace
them, including a lesbian filmmaker, the report
said.
Only two other countries have legalized
same-sex marriage nationwide—Belgium and
the Netherlands.
was no evidence the killing of Aaron Webster
near Stanley Park’s cruising trails was a hate
crime.
Ryan Cran, 23, and at least two other men
beat Webster, 41, with baseball bats, a golf club
and a pool cue.
Gay former Member of Parliament Svend
Robinson called on B.C. Attorney General
Geoff Plant to review the case and remind pros
ecutors to use hate crime laws.
“I hope that out of the tragedy of Aaron
Webster’s death will come a renewed determi
nation...that never again will the crown fail to
recognize the reality of gay-bashing,” Robinson
told the Canadian Press news service. “Six
years...is an outrage. What message does that
send about the values of the lives of gay people?”
Canada’s national gay lobby group, Egale,
called for a formal inquiry into the sentence.
“The criminal justice system needs a good
shakeup,” said Egale’s Tami Starlight. “The cir
cumstances leave no doubt that this murder was
a hate crime, and the justice system seems not to
want to recognize this.”
Egale board member Stephen Lock called
the sentence “an outrageous example of the
state’s refusal to acknowledge systemic violence
against gay men."
Two youths previously pleaded guilty in the
case and were sentenced to two years in jail
and a year of house arrest. A third man was
acquitted.
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U.S. C hristians T arget
S ame -S ex M arriage
in
C anada
Christian activist organizations in the Unit
ed States are sending money to Canada in an
attempt to thwart Parliament’s legalization of
same-sex marriage.
Courts already have legalized same-sex mar
riage in eight of Canada’s 13 provinces and ter
ritories. Passage of a bill pending in Parliament
would extend marriage rights to the other five
provinces and territories.
“[We will spend] whatever it takes. The fam
ily is too important,” said Patrick Korten, vice
president of communications for the Knights of
Columbus head office in New Haven, Conn., in
an interview with The Montreal Gazette.
The Knights recently spent $64,262 to print
2 million anti-same-sex-marriage postcards that
were distributed in churches across Canada.
Focus on the Family has sent hundreds of
thousands of dollars to the smaller Focus on the
Family (Canada) Association.
Alex Munter of Canadians for Equal Mar
riage told the Gazette he was sure most Canadi
ans do not approve of U.S. right-wingers inter
fering in Canadian affairs.
“This is fundamentally an issue about Cana
dian values and the Canadian Charter of
Rights,” he said. “Do we want the American far
right engaged in that debate.7 I would say no,
and I would think most Canadians would say
no.
Justice Minister Irwin Cotier said he also
doesn’t approve of the interference, although
there’s nothing he can do to stop it.
“From a legal perspective, there’s nothing we
can do about it,” he told reporters Feb. 9. "We
live in a global universe, and ideas cross borders,
and it’s a free speech issue.... I just would like to
maintain the integrity of the Canadian political
culture and the Canadian political debate and
not see it skewered by the kinds of lobbying that
comes from the States.”
S hort S entence
in G ay S laying C ase
The apparent ringleader in the 2001 killing
of a naked gay man in a cmisy Vancouver,
British Columbia, park received only a six-year
prison sentence Feb. 8.
Local gay activists criticized the length of the
sentence and British Columbia Supreme Court
Justice Mary Humphries, who determined there
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Sizzla, known for his homophobic lyrics, must
spend some time in the hoosgow
Beavercreek Clinic
Mondays 3:3O-7:3Opm
S izzla J ailed
Anti-gay Jamaican dancehall singer Sizzla,
aka Miguel Collins, was jailed Feb. 2 in Jamaica
for swearing during a Dec. 25 concert.
The two-week sentence resulted from words
Sizzla used on stage in St. Thomas parish,
despite warnings from local police to watch his
language. He was charged under a law that bans
indecent expression and clothing.
Last year, Sizzla’s tour of the United King
dom was canceled after gay activists objected to
his "kill queers” lyrics, which include “Burn the
man who rides a man from behind” (“Fire fi di
man dem weh go ride man behind”).
“They’ve got to apologize to God because
they break God’s law,” Sizzla said of gays in an
interview with the British Broadcasting Corp.’s
lXtra last November. “I sing ‘fire bum for homo
sexuals’ and sometime in some street 1 walk,
I see them and me no touch them. If 1 don’t like
what you’re doing, 1 don’t come there. If you
don’t like what I’m doing or what I say, you
don’t come where I’m at.” jm
Compiled by R ex WOCKNER, who has reported
for the gay press since 1985. He has a bachelor’s
degree m journalism from Drake University and
started his career as a radio reporter.
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