IN MONTREAL — A couple is a couple is a couple. What is the difference between a childless heterosexual couple and a same-sex couple? I can’t see any, apart from what goes on in the bedroom — and this is neither society’s nor the government’s business. I know quite a few lesbian and gay couples who have been together for years — longer, in fact, than many heterosexual couples. Why should they be refused what other couples benefit from — such things as survivor’s pensions, car-insurance benefits or prescription-drug coverage? Why should the “natural family” of a sick or dying person have the right to exclude a long-time, loving partner from crucial medical decisions? Why should blood run thicker than love? Why, indeed? This week, Quebec gave a very civilized answer. In a rare show of unanimity, both the governing Péquistes and the opposition Liberals voted in favour of an “omnibus” bill that will eliminate discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation from the province’s laws, the only exceptions being marriage and adoption. The wording of 28 provincial laws and 11 regulations will be changed so that all common-law couples will enjoy the same rights — and be bound by the same obligations. This move reflects the spirit of Thursday’s Supreme Court of Canada judgment on spousal support between same-sex partners and of coming amendments to the immigration law that will make it easier for homosexual couples to be reunited. Still, with its new legislation (the bill went through second reading in the National Assembly on Wednesday), Quebec goes much further. It becomes the second jurisdiction in North America (after Hawaii) to give such wide-ranging rights to gay and lesbian couples. This province has actually been at the forefront of the gay rights movement from the very beginning. Wasn’t it a Quebecker, Pierre Trudeau, who decriminalized homosexuality in his famous 1969 “omnibus” bill? The state, he said, has no business in the nation’s bedrooms. Even in small towns, rural areas and working-class ridings, gay politicians have been more easily accepted in Quebec than in other provinces. Several MPs and MNAs are openly gay and nobody makes a fuss — neither do they make a fuss. Unlike NDP MP Svend Robinson, none of them felt compelled to tell the public all about their private lives. This doesn’t mean there is no discrimination against gays and lesbians; of course, there is. Still, the environment and the legislation have evolved over a relatively short period of time, and they evolved faster in Quebec than elsewhere. Why is this so? Hard to say. All I know is that human beings are not genetically programmed to be tolerant or intolerant. So there must be a sociological explanation. Maybe Catholic societies are less puritanical than Protestant societies. Maybe a long past under the oppressive power of the Roman Catholic Church has produced a generation of rebels who are prone to reject anything that smacks of moral authoritarianism. The values that abruptly replaced the strict laws of the Catholic Church during the Quiet Revolution were formed in the late sixties — a period when sexual freedom and egalitarianism triumphed. This might explain the relative tolerance toward homosexuality, and also why there are more unmarried parents and unmarried couples in Quebec than anywhere else in Canada, and more divorces to boot. According to the latest Statistics Canada report, one in four Quebec couples is unmarried; this compares with only one couple in 10 in the rest of Canada. One-third of marriages (34.8 per cent) throughout Canada end up in divorce; in Quebec, the proportion is 44.8 per cent. In any case, whatever the reasons behind Quebec’s benign attitudes toward homosexuality, the result is plainly positive. This new Quebec law marks a first step toward the recognition of same-sex couples throughout Canada. André Boulerice, a gay MNA, believes the law’s main impact will be psychological. In Denmark, no more than 500 gay couples took advantage of a similar law, for there are some financial disadvantages to being a common-law couple. But Mr. Boulerice noticed a change of mood among some of his gay friends when he went to his neighbourhood outdoor market last Saturday. “There were many [gay] couples out there, buying flowers for their gardens. They didn’t care so much about the law itself. They were happy, more sure of themselves — as if they felt, somehow, recognized, respected.” Lysiane Gagnon is a political columnist for La Presse. Copyright © The Globe and Mail 1999 |
