Gay marriage to be 1st for Canada's Mounties
Gay marriage to be 1st for Canada's Mounties
By Doug Struck
Copyright by The Washington Post
Published June 11, 2006
TORONTO -- It promises to be a grand June wedding, two scarlet-coated officers of the famed Royal Canadian Mounted Police standing before a justice of the peace with an escort of similarly spiffy Mounties observing the nuptials on the eve of Canada Day, a national holiday.
But when the two constables become the first male Mounties to marry each other, the grumpiest witness-from-afar might well be Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The planned union of Jason Tree and David Connors in Nova Scotia on June 30 has cast a spotlight on Harper's pledge to his conservative backers to try to roll back same-sex marriage laws.
Harper has not spoken publicly about the upcoming wedding and has ordered his party members to shut up about the matter.
"I think it's great if we change the public perception," said Tree, 27, who patrols a stretch of rural fishing communities along the Bay of Fundy.
About 25 miles away, Connors, 28, helps police Yarmouth, a town of 8,000. The two men met in college eight years ago and have been partners since.
Tree said he had been open about their relationship since he joined the force six years ago, and "from the outset, I have never had a single problem." The force has assigned the two men to posts close together, as it does with other couples, and fellow officers "have all been great," Tree said from their home in Meteghan, southwest of Halifax.
Tree and Connors decided to join thousands of other same-sex couples getting married in Canada. In 2003, Ontario's highest court ruled that same-sex couples could not be denied marriage. Courts in other provinces followed. Last July, Canada's Parliament narrowly approved same-sex marriages throughout the country.
But the Liberal-led government was replaced in February by Harper's Conservative Party, which includes staunch opponents of gay marriage. The party platform featured a pledge to ask Parliament to reopen the issue. But Harper has been in no hurry; he said Friday that he would introduce the resolution in the fall.
"I think he realizes it is not a popular debate for him, not one that would win him votes," said Kaj Hasselriis of Canadians for Equal Marriage, an Ottawa-based gay-rights organization. "The majority of Canadians think this issue is settled and don't want to reopen it."
But the marriage of Tree and Connors has clashed head-on with the foremost icon of Canada's national image of virile, outdoorsy strength--the square-jawed Mountie of popular lore.
"This busts some stereotypes," Hasselriis said. "We talk about the Mounties getting their man, but I don't think a lot of people thought about getting their man this way."
The image of the 22,561-member RCMP has already evolved. Women joined in 1974; they now make up 17 percent of the officers.
In 1990, Sikh Mounties were permitted to trade the flat-brimmed Mountie hat for their traditional turban.
But Tree and Connors' uniformed matrimony goes too far for some.
"This does nothing to strengthen the family," said Dave Bylsma, president of the Ontario Council of the Christian Heritage Party. "Personally, it doesn't matter to me if they are RCMP or dogcatchers or garbagemen. But they are obviously using the fact that they are Mounties to rub our nose in it."
By Doug Struck
Copyright by The Washington Post
Published June 11, 2006
TORONTO -- It promises to be a grand June wedding, two scarlet-coated officers of the famed Royal Canadian Mounted Police standing before a justice of the peace with an escort of similarly spiffy Mounties observing the nuptials on the eve of Canada Day, a national holiday.
But when the two constables become the first male Mounties to marry each other, the grumpiest witness-from-afar might well be Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The planned union of Jason Tree and David Connors in Nova Scotia on June 30 has cast a spotlight on Harper's pledge to his conservative backers to try to roll back same-sex marriage laws.
Harper has not spoken publicly about the upcoming wedding and has ordered his party members to shut up about the matter.
"I think it's great if we change the public perception," said Tree, 27, who patrols a stretch of rural fishing communities along the Bay of Fundy.
About 25 miles away, Connors, 28, helps police Yarmouth, a town of 8,000. The two men met in college eight years ago and have been partners since.
Tree said he had been open about their relationship since he joined the force six years ago, and "from the outset, I have never had a single problem." The force has assigned the two men to posts close together, as it does with other couples, and fellow officers "have all been great," Tree said from their home in Meteghan, southwest of Halifax.
Tree and Connors decided to join thousands of other same-sex couples getting married in Canada. In 2003, Ontario's highest court ruled that same-sex couples could not be denied marriage. Courts in other provinces followed. Last July, Canada's Parliament narrowly approved same-sex marriages throughout the country.
But the Liberal-led government was replaced in February by Harper's Conservative Party, which includes staunch opponents of gay marriage. The party platform featured a pledge to ask Parliament to reopen the issue. But Harper has been in no hurry; he said Friday that he would introduce the resolution in the fall.
"I think he realizes it is not a popular debate for him, not one that would win him votes," said Kaj Hasselriis of Canadians for Equal Marriage, an Ottawa-based gay-rights organization. "The majority of Canadians think this issue is settled and don't want to reopen it."
But the marriage of Tree and Connors has clashed head-on with the foremost icon of Canada's national image of virile, outdoorsy strength--the square-jawed Mountie of popular lore.
"This busts some stereotypes," Hasselriis said. "We talk about the Mounties getting their man, but I don't think a lot of people thought about getting their man this way."
The image of the 22,561-member RCMP has already evolved. Women joined in 1974; they now make up 17 percent of the officers.
In 1990, Sikh Mounties were permitted to trade the flat-brimmed Mountie hat for their traditional turban.
But Tree and Connors' uniformed matrimony goes too far for some.
"This does nothing to strengthen the family," said Dave Bylsma, president of the Ontario Council of the Christian Heritage Party. "Personally, it doesn't matter to me if they are RCMP or dogcatchers or garbagemen. But they are obviously using the fact that they are Mounties to rub our nose in it."
posted by Carlos T Mock at 5:56 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home