Tirone writes, "(Winnipeg, Manitoba) Manitoba Thursday became the fourth Canadian province to strike down the definition of marriage that prevented gays and lesbians from tying the knot.



Court of Queen's Bench Justice Douglas Yard ruled that the wording in federal law is unconstitutional."

Three couples filed a lawsuit challenging the law.

Yard said in his ruling that precedents set in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec weighed heavily in his decision. He noted that no less than 12 judges in Canada have been asked to consider the issue.

"The cumulative effect and the overwhelming effect of that judicial authority is to the effect that the traditional definition of marriage is no longer constitutionally valid in view of the provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms," he said.

"The traditional definition of marriage in Manitoba is reformulated to mean a voluntary union for life of two persons at the exclusion of all others."

The ruling comes a little more than a year after Ontario's highest court declared the law invalid and allowed same-sex couples to immediately begin marrying.

Judges in the provinces of British Columbia and Quebec, and in the Yukon Territory followed suit.

Today's ruling means more than 80 percent of Canada's gays and lesbians now live in areas where same-sex marriage is permitted.

Neither Manitoba nor the federal governments opposed the suit seeking marriage rights in the Prairie province.

One of the plaintiff couples was Chris Vogel and Rich North. They were the first couple in Canada to bring a legal challenge to the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage. They tied the knot on February 11, 1974 in the Unitarian Church, long before passage of the Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms which granted equality to gays and lesbians and has been used to fight the ban on gay marriage. Later that year, a Manitoba court declared their marriage invalid.

The other couples were Stefphany Cholakis and Michelle Ritchot, who will soon celebrate thirteen years together, and Laura Fouhse and Jordan Cantwell, who have been together for four years and are raising a six-year-old daughter.

The timing couldn't be better for Fouhse and Cantwell. They're planning to get married in Winnipeg on Saturday.

"It will certainly make the wedding a lot brighter for us if we know it's going to be legally recognized by our government," Fouhse told The Winnipeg Sun yesterday.

"We were planning the wedding before we knew the court challenge could go ahead," she said.

The fifth province to legalize gay marriage could be Nova Scotia.

Three same-sex couples in the Maritime province filed suit last month challenging the province's refusal to grant them marriage licenses.

Gilles Marchildon, Executive Director of LGBT rights group Egale Canada said today's decision bodes well for the Nova Scotia case.

"Canada is being strengthened by the inclusion of these loving, committed couples," Marchildon said.

"We look forward to the day when all Canadians have the equal right to marry, when Parliament finally passes legislation to make that a reality," said Cicely McWilliam of Canadians for Equal Marriage.

"Until then, we call on all the remaining provinces to accept equal marriage and begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples."

A survey released July 1 by the Center for Research and Information on Canada and Environics found that the number of Canadians agreeing that gays and lesbians should be allowed to get married has increased. The survey indicated that 57% support same-sex marriage, the highest level since CRIC first asked the question two years ago. The number disagreeing currently stands at 38%.

The federal government has said it will amend the Marriage Act and dozens of other laws to extend same-sex marriage across the country. The draft bill is awaiting a constitutional hearing next month in Ottawa.

by Rich Peters

365Gay.com Newscenter

Western Canada Bureau Chief

�365Gay.com 2004