Charter of Rights, Sexual Orientation & SSM

[August1991]

If you want my idea, read this post.

If you have the time or energy, flip through this thread.

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In essence, the Supreme Court decided to interpret the Charter's equality provisions to include "sexual orientation" - something the Charter does not state explicitly.

If we are honest about this, we must explicitly forbid the State from discriminating on grounds of sexual orientation. Canada has not formally done this.

For those who believe that the Charter protects gays, they should think again. Canadian governments discriminate among Canadians using many criteria. Same-sex couples have obtained tenuous protection against such discrimination. The Charter does not explicitly exclude sexual orientation as a basis of discrimination. Until it does, gays & lesbians for example will not be fully respected, or protected.

The logical conclusion of the Same-Sex Marriage decision is a Charter (Constitutional) amendment. Anything less means that there are two order of rights: those expressly written, and those open to interpretation.

In 1982, Canada chose to adopt a Civil Code approach to law. In doing so, Canadians must understand the consequences. If it is not explicitly part of the Charter, then it's not part of the Code - it's subject to re-interpretation.

For example? What happens if a future Supreme Court decides to re-interpret the equality provisions of s15 as they were originally written, just as a previous Court decided to do?

[geoffrey]

Even I think their rights as a minority should be respected with an express inclusion of the term 'sexual orientation' under 15(1). I don't think this necessarily protects the right to gay marriage under the Charter, because the term marriage can be defined exclusively, just like the term straight is. However, it would protect them from any persecution from future governments, however unlikely that would be.

The danger would be in the failure of such a plan to add it to the Charter. A failure would send a bad message out there for SSM supporters, and for any gay rights leaders. It's troubling in the least for those that are ok with SSM... which by the way I am not.