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October 08, 2006
Unfit for service
The Winnipeg Free Press warns of "a growing conflict between gay rights and religious freedom":
In Manitoba, marriage commissioners who didn't want to marry same-sex couples because of their faith have been forced to resign, and a Catholic men's group came under fire for refusing to rent its hall to lesbians for their wedding.
In Ontario, a printer ran into trouble when he refused to print pro-gay brochures.
The second two can be the subject of a reasonable debate, but it still says here the first is totally nonsensical. The job of a marriage commissioner is, so far as I know, to issue licenses to all those the law allows to marry. (I can't actually find anything that explicitly says that, mind you, so I welcome corrections.) If a marriage commissioner can't do that, for any reason, it's not a matter of him being "forced" to resign. If a gas jockey can't pump gas, it's not that he's forced to turn in his oily rag and squeegee — he just isn't qualified for the job.
Ultimately, though, what's most odious about the idea of legislation "protecting" marriage commissioners (which the Conservatives claim isn't being considered, but which Vic Toews has certainly supported in the past) is that it raises the status of religiously informed opinion above other opinions. Seems to me the government has to either allow marriage commissioners to deny licenses to anyone for any reason, or insist that they certify all legally eligible couples. Anything else is pure posturing.
Posted by Chris Selley at October 8, 2006 01:41 PM
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Comments
"Resign" was probably the wrong word for the writer to use, because it's misleading about what marriage commissioners do. They're sort of like freelance non-religious ministers -- licensed by the province to perform marriages, but paid piecework, by each couple they marry. Many of them have other paid jobs.
Without taking a position on whether it's OK for them to decline the business of couples the state has deemed marriagable, their status is probably closer to the Ontario printer than it is to, say, a full-time city clerk whose function in the marriage process is to issue licences.
Posted by: D"R."R. at October 8, 2006 03:45 PM
This is a difficult question. As DRR notes, Commissioners are free lancers - it would be different if they were paid staff at a licence office - like the guy who issues drivers licences. In that case, there is little argument that you are obliged to perform services (ie, issue a license) for anyone who shows up at the window and has the requisite qualifications or certifications. I am not sure if I put them in the same class as the Ontario printer - but I think they are closer to that than to the license office guy employed by the Province; it strikes me that it may make more sense to look at them as we do Notaries Public, or other self-regulating professionals like Engineers, Accountants, or Physicians. Note that there is no requirement for any of these other practitioners (all of whom are empowered for certain purposes by the state) to accept the custom of all potential clients.
I see it as part of the fundamental contradiction created when the state decides to regulate a moral issue; if "Marriage" were an exclusively religious occasion and "civil union" were an exclusively secular event dealing with pension transferability, community property, RRSP contributions and so on, then we could make civil unions available by simple declaration of the couples involved, and Commissioners would not need to concern themselves in being an active participant in something that offends their religious sensibilities. Incidentally, I've always wondered about health care workers who are Jehovah's Witnesses - do they participate in transfusions?
Posted by: DCardno at October 8, 2006 06:33 PM