Unintended Consequences...?

We have heard that homosexual marriage has the potential to open a can of worms when it comes to polygamy. It is more than just a slippery slope argument. If the traditional definition of marriage is up for grabs after only three years that the same Liberals voted to uphold it in a parliamentary resolution, there is no reason to think that the one they are proposing now will never change. As Jean Chretien said, society evolves. Give it another three years, or perhaps less. Who suspected Chretien of being a Lamarckian evolutionist?

To Irwin Cotler and all those who have been saying that there is no reason to fear any such predictions, and that everything remains the same, we just need to canvas the news in the last few days.

• Seven marriage commissioners in Newfoundland quit rather than to perform homosexual marriages.
• in Manitoba, marriage commissioner have also resigned rather than to be compelled to marry homosexuals.
  
• in Saskatchewan commissioners are voicing their dissent
  
• in British Columbia, marriage commissioners have also been told to perform homosexual marriages or be fired.
• a Knight of Columbus (Catholic) group is being brought before the Human Rights Commission in BC because they refuse to rent their hall for the purposes of a Homosexual wedding reception.
• Elsewhere, a Christian (Presbyterian) marriage preparation course goes unadvertised for fear that homosexuals might force them to open it up to them.
• a plan to revise and change other legislation is already visible, as an NDP legislator requests that the adoption laws be amended to include homosexual parents.
  

All of this, in spite of Irwin Cotler assurances that people's religious beliefs are being protected. The ink is not yet dry on the new Liberal bill redefining marriage, and the unforeseen consequences are already creeping up rather quickly. There will be more, and we are not wise enough to predict where and in which ways they are likely to continue fundamentally to change the social and political landscape of this country.