So far, they've all been rulings on lawsuits brought by people denied the right to marry. In each case, basically, the court has relied (I believe) on the Supreme Court decision on pensions a few years back - or was it Vriend? - that said that the Canadian Charter of Rights must have the right of freedom from discrimination "read in" for sexual orientation - that is, that the courts should treat the Charter as though it actually did say "sexual orientation".
Most of the polls I've seen have shown Canadians being fractionally in favour of gay marriage proper, and slightly more in favour of civil unions. However, the opinion is very strongly slanted by age, with the young, as you might expect, being much more inclined to be in favour. The courts are basically reflecting the will of the majority of Canadians, especially when one considers that younger Canadians are very strongly in favour, indicating the trend is upwards on broad societal acceptance.
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regna
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Date: 2004-11-09 01:39 am (UTC)Most of the polls I've seen have shown Canadians being fractionally in favour of gay marriage proper, and slightly more in favour of civil unions. However, the opinion is very strongly slanted by age, with the young, as you might expect, being much more inclined to be in favour. The courts are basically reflecting the will of the majority of Canadians, especially when one considers that younger Canadians are very strongly in favour, indicating the trend is upwards on broad societal acceptance.