"Religious Freedom" does not include the right to discriminate - Canadian Court

In Canada, gay marriage has been part of the law since 2004 - but some marriage officers still attempt to avoid conducting them, on the basis that it is against their religious freedom. In Saskatchewan, the state parliament has attempted to build this into state law, with explicit provision for officials to recuse themselves on religious grounds. The state supreme court has ruled this out of order.

In its decision, released Monday, the court said both of the proposed laws -- allowing an exemption for all marriage commissioners or just for those who were commissioners at the time gay marriage was legalized in 2004 -- would be unconstitutional. If enacted, such a law would violate the equality rights of gay and lesbian individuals and would not be a reasonable and justifiable breach of those rights, the court said.

Read more   - Vancouver Sun 

Blessing Same Sex Unions in Toronto

There is no longer any doubt in my mind that widepread, formal recognition by Christian churches of same-sex unions, by liturgical rites in church, is on the way - one small step at a time.

One of these small steps is in the diocese of Toronto, where the local archbishop has given pastoral guidelines for blessing same sex unions. Technically, the impact will be only local, in his own archdiocese, and limited to a simple blessing, not full marriage. Effectively, though, this one of those small steps that makes subsequent strides that much easier. Civil marriage for same sex couples is already a well-established fact of life in Canada. Church blessings in Toronto will soon spread across the nation, just as civil marriage did after a purely local introduction. From country-wide blessing of civil unions, to blessing civil marriages, to full church weddings, will be easy steps. Sweden already has gay and lesbian church weddings in the Lutheran church, with which Anglicans and Episcopalians are in communion. Other Scandinavian churches will soon follow suit - as will Canadian Anglicans, just a little later.

Archbishop Johnson with Queen Elizabeth, 2010