Family Advocates 'Bitterly Disappointed' Over Canada's Same-Sex 'Marriage' Approval
by Chad Groening and Jenni Parker
July 22, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Canadian pro-family activist says he is bitterly disappointed that, after a long fight between pro-homosexual and pro-family forces, the liberal government under Prime Minister Paul Martin has put its final stamp of approval on homosexual "marriage."
Brian Rushfeldt of the Canada Family Action Coalition feels his country has become a fascist state. Although the pro-family advocate fought hard alongside other conservatives to stop the homosexual marriage legislation known as C-38 from passing, a representative for Canada's Governor General signed the bill on Wednesday. With that signature, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize homosexual marriage.
To Rushfeldt, the whole process has been tainted from the beginning. "I believe that the political climate and how we've seen this whole thing unfold with marriage is extremely illegitimate," he says, "but a greater fear, I think, is the fascist-style liberal government that we've seen in operation that has forced this thing upon us."
And what his fellow Canadians fail to realize, the activist warns, is that homosexual marriage is only the first step down a slippery slope in a sick society. "It'll go beyond that to taxation, to foreign policy, to domestic policy. It will affect everything," he says, "and in fact it has been affecting them for 20 years. We just haven't even realized that yet."
Rushfeldt says he is now concerned about the future of democracy in his country. "Canada is a very politically sick nation right now, and certainly we've seen it -- especially with the marriage re-definition legislation. We had reports of the senators in this particular situation being ordered back to the Senate and ordered on how they should vote," he points out.
"So, here again, we see a situation where there is coercion," the CFAC spokesman adds. "That is nothing short of fascism." Now his concern is that the government of Canada will continue to shove its agenda on the people.
And another area of concern, Rushfeldt notes, has to do with individual religious freedom and free-speech rights. He fears that Canadians who continue to speak out against homosexuality and homosexual marriage could have their civil liberties severely curtailed. Meanwhile, U.S. pro-family activists are watching developments in Canada carefully, foreseeing similar concerns on America's horizon.
FRC Head Sees Canada's Fight as Bellwether for U.S.
Tony Perkins of the Washington, DC-based Family Research Council observes that the approval of C-38 reverses the 1999 Canadian Parliament vote that reaffirmed one-man, one-woman marriage. Immediately after that 1999 loss, he says, homosexual activists turned to the courts and strict "hate crimes" legislation to force Canadian lawmakers to revisit the issue while "leaving Canadian citizens out in the cold."
Over the last few years, the FRC president contends, honest debate on same-sex marriage has been stifled by "thought crime" legislation that shut down any opposition to the homosexual agenda. "Many Canadian people of faith have found themselves silenced," he notes, "unable even to cite biblical passages without threat of fines or jail time."
What has been happening in Canada "is only further evidence," Perkins asserts, "that the U.S. must protect marriage by passing an amendment to the constitution. It's time for Congress to act before the courts do."
