Canadian Gov't Accepts Gay Divorce

(Toronto, Ontario) The Canadian government announced late Wednesday afternoon that it would not oppose same-sex couples who seek to divorce.

Same-sex marriage is legal in four Canadian jurisdictions but when a relationship ends severing the ties that bound is uncharted territory as two Toronto women discovered.

Judges in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and the Yukon have struck down the federal definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, but, Canadian divorce laws remain unchanged.

Two Toronto women are now before Ontario's Superior Court of Justice in what is believed to be Canada's first gay divorce petition.

The women, identified in court documents only as M.M. and J.H., got married on June 18, 2003, a week after the Ontario Court of Appeal legalized same-sex marriage. They had been together for five years but the marriage did not work and they separated just five days after their wedding.

Julie Hannaford, the lawyer representing J.H., is using the same arguments that won the right for same-sex couples to marry in her fight for divorce rights.

In a supporting court document M.M. says that "same-sex couples are entitled to the equal respect, recognition and benefit of the law, including all family-law rights and obligations guaranteed to heterosexual couples."

The court is being asked to grant the divorce and issue an order that the Canadian Divorce Act definition of "spouse" as " a man or woman who are married to each other,"  is unconstitutional and offensive to their equality rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The federal government originally sought to have the case set aside until after the Supreme Court makes its recommendations on how to proceed with legislation to permit same-sex marriage across the country. This is not expected until fall.

Hundreds of laws affecting marriage that still define it as a union between a man and a woman will need to be amended.

The judge in the case of M.M. and J.H refused to delay the hearing.  It is now set for mid September.  Following that ruling the federal government announced it would not seek a delay from a higher court.

 This will help end the legal vacuum that exists around some aspects of equal marriage for same-sex couples,” said Laurie Arron, Political Coordinator for Canadians for Equal Marriage.