CLIPPING: NB judge says gay marriage must be allowed

Friday » June 24 » 2005

New Brunswick judge backs same-sex couples’ right to wed

CanWest News Service

Friday, June 24, 2005

MONCTON, N.B. - A decision made yesterday by a judge in Moncton has set the stage for same-sex marriage in New Brunswick. In a written decision in which she ruled in favour for four couples claiming current provincial law violates their rights, Judge Judy Clendenning said the definition of civil marriage must be altered to mark legal union "between two persons," rather than strictly a man and a woman. In her ruling, Judge Clendenning allows the province 10 days to establish the position. The decision leaves only four Canadian jurisdictions -- Alberta, Prince Edward Island, Northwest Territories and Nunavut -- recognizing marriage as only between a man and a woman. The case began with one lesbian couple and two gay couples in Saint John, and a gay couple in Moncton, asking the court to declare the province’s stand on same-sex marriage unconstitutional and to allow the province to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples. The provincial government said at the time it would accept whatever decision the court made.

© National Post 2005

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