Marriage-a-go-go

The Groucho Marx-like Canadian federal government response to same-sex marriage continues apace. Justice Minister Irwin Cotler is in charge, a lawyer and academic who obsessed with the Charter and Rights and Freedoms yet who spouted off before his election about equal rights for all except when it came to homos who want marriage. Cotler now finds himself trapped by his boss the prime minister into legislating same-sex marriage. Cotler's announced that a bill (that will include Divorce Act amendments --more laughter from the peanut gallery) will be introduced into Parliament in early February, and should be law by the summer. "If the bill does not pass, the likelihood is that the constitutional development will continue in the other provinces, and we will likely see this issue being arrived at one by one in the courts," he burbled. The whole thing is a mess: some provincial courts have ruled that same-sex marriage is a must, others have avoided the issue, but will eventually be stuck with lawsuits that demand resolution. In the middle of all this, the government of Canada appealed the rulings allowing same-sex marriage. Then it withdrew the appeal. Then it asked the Supreme Court of Canada for an opinion, but not a binding judgement. The top-most justices in the land ruled that same-sex marriage was acceptable (but didn't say whether it was required under the Constitution's equal rights sections). Meanwhile, everything was on hold.... Cigar and funny eyebrows, anyone?