Comments on: Canadian Marriages Invalid? Ctd.

By: Darina

Darina — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:42:16 +0000

Thank you for the clarification, John and Eric.

(Hello, John, one more place to meet! :D)

Ugh, what a fine legal mess!

By: Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:52:55 +0000

Mr. Egan, thanks for your encouraging comment. I’ve been so distressed since the Conservatives got a majority government and have since been ramming through regressive legislation in an attempt to turn Canada into the U.S. and the Conservative party into the Republican party.

By: Jay Jonson

Jay Jonson — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:30:17 +0000

It sounds like this will be worked out by instituting some mechanism for allowing non-residents to be divorced. However, it is also a mistake to downplay the significance of a government lawyer, and perhaps the Minister of Justice, to say that non-resident marriages are not valid unless they are also valid in their home regions. If that is held to be the case, I suggest that a class action suit be filed against the Canadian tourist agencies that have been luring foreigners to Canada to be married. They have particularly targeted people who cannot get married in their own locales–why else spend so much effort and money to be married in Canada? Dan Savage asked whether this ruling would also apply to heterosexuals, such as a Saudi woman marrying a non-Muslim (which is prohibited in Saudi Arabia), or is this discrimination meant just for us?

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:53:07 +0000

Don’t jump to conclusions – people are way off base on this. No one in Canada is trying to make gay marriages retroactively illegal.

The issue is about non-residents trying to get a DIVORCE in Canada, which has always been difficult (even for heterosexal couples).

see details here:

http://diogenesborealis.blogspot.com/2012/01/gay-marriage-meltdown-in-ottawa.html

By: John Egan

John Egan — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:58:42 +0000

This is a non-story.

The document floating around isn’t a judgement. Whoever wrote barely finished law school.

Their marriage was never in question in Canada: they eilgibility to get a divorce in Canada is. All that shite about “never legally married in Canada” is wrong. Because they never lived in Canada they can’t divorce up here. Same rule for opposite sex folks who marry in Canada as visitors…except they probably can get a divorce wherever they live. SS couples still largely can’t.

This is the work of one fuckwit or a few fuckwits sharing the same office. Not the first play in the Harper government’s plan to undo SSM–which the courts would overturn anyway. Even Harper’s WIFE supports SSM. So chill people.

BTW I am Canadian, an NDP member and in a same-sex marriage; in fact my husband and I were sort of the gay boy poster kids a few years ago: http://www.chatelaine.com/en/article/4010–same-sex-marriage

By: Jim Burroway

Jim Burroway — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:11:04 +0000

Sorry bout that teach!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:00:47 +0000

Just a gentle note – I know you guys are extremely scrupulous about transparency when it comes to posted items online (you will often cross out sections that you altered to clearly show what you originally posted).

That said, you might make allowances for the occasional copy editing. I’m pretty sure no one has yet been married in 2995 (unless we’re switching calendars), and there was at least one other grammatical error that appeared to result from a typo (rather than from usage).

I know you know all about why grammar / spelling / copyediting is helpful in communicating your message (clarity, accuracy, lack of distractions). I’d also point out that it would bum me out if someone thought less of the ideas in your piece because of technical errors.

Sorry. Blame my 7th grade English teacher :)

Great piece, otherwise, guys !