(Originally posted on the Bilerico Project, America's best LGBT blog, by Alberta-based transactivist Mercedes Allen.)
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Canada since July 19th, 2005, following a chain of events that began in a Court of Appeal in Ontario in 2003. It was the third country in the world to legalize it, after the Netherlands (2000) and Belgium (2003), and happened in a few Provinces before being recognized nationwide. In the end, the issue still came to a vote in the House of Commons (instead of, as many in the religious right will tell you, legislating done by judges) and it passed with 158 MPs for it (versus 133 against).
When the Conservatives came to power, they attempted to reopen the debate, and this motion was defeated by a vote of 175 to 123 on December 7th, 2006. By that time, people were used to over a full year of same-sex marriage existing, and typically called it a "non-issue."
And somehow, the country failed to implode.
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