Same-Sex Divorce
Same-sex marriage began to be available in various provinces from 2003 onwards, following a series of court cases which held that same-sex marriage was required by the equality provision of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Shortly thereafter, the question of same-sex divorce arose. Section 2 of the Divorce Act originally read:
- "spouse” means either of a man or woman who are married to each other.
This definition of "spouse" meant that the Divorce Act did not provide a means for a same-sex married couple to obtain a divorce. However a judge in Ontario (in September 2004) and a judge in British Columbia (in June 2005) both agreed that this section of the act was discriminatory and granted divorces to same-sex married couples.
In 2005, Parliament passed the Civil Marriage Act, which made same-sex marriage available throughout Canada. That Act also amended the Divorce Act to change the meaning of "spouse", to allow for same-sex divorce. Section 2 of the Divorce Act now defines "spouse" to mean "either of two persons who are married to each other."
Read more about this topic: Divorce Act
Famous quotes containing the word divorce:
“In a world where women work three times as hard for half as much, our achievement has been denigrated, both marriage and divorce have turned against us, our motherhood has been used as an obstacle to our success, our passion as a trap, our empathy for others as an excuse to underpay us.”
—Erica Jong (20th century)