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Still, religious groups aren't happy.

"The Court unilaterally has altered an institution of vital social significance, and the government apparently has conceded the issue to the Court by not appealing," Bruce Clemenger, president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, said in a press release. "It is not the role of the Court, nor an appropriate use of the Charter, to redefine pre-existing social, cultural and religious institutions. Despite the existence of bills of rights in most Western countries, not one has ruled that the recognition of marriage as being the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others is unconstitutional or in violation of any norm of human rights."

Focus on the Family Canada Vice President Derek Rogusky called the decision " an abdication of responsibility and a huge blow to democracy."

Both religious groups expressed dismay that Canada's courts, not Parliament, have been the driving force in redefining marriage. And leaders of both groups, along with several others signed a letter this week asking the government to find a compromise other than marriage. "The commitment of Canadians to fairness, equality, and tolerance may entail the extension of legal recognition to various kinds of relationships beside that of marriage; indeed it has already done so," said a letter published in Toronto's Globe & Mail. "But that commitment will not be served by expropriating and reconfiguring an historic institution designed to meet the unique challenges and complexities of opposite-sex conjugal relationships."

More on gay marriage in Canada:

• Don't kiss off marriage | (Many signers, The Globe and Mail, Toronto)
  
  
• Government to legalize gay marriage | Impending bill would permit churches to opt out: 'We have recognized the definition that has been developed by the courts,' Cauchon says (CanWest News Service)
  
  
• Same-sex marriage and Parliament's duty | Expanding the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples is the right thing to do (Editorial, The Globe & Mail, Toronto)
  
  
• Canada to recognize same-sex marriages (The Times, London)
  
  
• Canadian leaders agree to propose gay marriage law | The decision paves the way for Canada to become the third country to allow same-sex unions (The New York Times)
  
  
• Hundreds protest court's ruling on same-sex unions | 'SARS will cease when AIDS parade cancelled' (The National Post, Canada)

American Medical Association backs human cloning for research:

• AMA backs cloning for research purposes | The policy, adopted without debate at the AMA's annual meeting, says cloning for research purposes is ethical. But the policy allows doctors who oppose the practice to refuse to perform it (Associated Press)
  
  
• AMA abandons medicine's most vulnerable patients | Focus on the Family decries embryo-destroying research (Press release)
  
  
• Concerned Women for America reminds AMA: A clone by any other name is still a clone! (Press release)

Southern Baptists meet:

• Southern Baptists announce initiative on gays | At the denomination's annual meeting, which ends Wednesday night, leaders asked their 42,000 churches to reach out compassionately to gays, focusing on how Christianity can save them (Associated Press)
  
  
• Baptists begin to open hearts to gays | God loves you but hates your sin. The message was repeated time and again along sidewalks of downtown Phoenix on Tuesday morning (The Arizona Republic)
  
  
• SBC puts families in forefront | This is the Southern Baptist Convention's least attended, least controversial and least newsworthy annual meeting in decades. And yet it may turn out to be one of the SBC's most important annual meetings. (David Waters, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis)

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June (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47