The First Year Legal

Doing What's Right

Well as it is past midnight here, today is my anniversary. Dave and I have been married legally now for one full year. We have lived together however as a couple since Sept 19 1996, so really we have been married for nearly ten years.

It is funny though, how that piece of paper called a marriage license does actually make a difference.

Got the tax forms in so now we can file jointly, we can claim the added deduction to reduce our taxes simply because of that piece of paper. that marriage license The same piece of paper Stephen Harper and his Alliance Party, sorry New Conservatives wish to take away from us and deny to other gay men and women.

Course if you are woman, guess you gotta an added worry seeing as how Mr Harper and his Klan want to also establish a good Christian Government on the 23rd of this month. Funny isn’t it, how somehow following the supposed principles of Christianity or Judaism like compassion, charity, forgiveness, etc. you are suddenly not a Good Christian or Jew according to Harper and His Klan if you are gay or support a woman’s right to choose.

But today we are legal and who knows, it might take Harper a bit to change that but I know as I sit here, that I won’t go disquietly if he does win and try to take away from me these equal rights.

I know that it isn’t just about making a tax claim or getting the reduced monthly health care rates but that it is something more. That piece of paper says to me that I am not evil, that I am not a pariah and that my country accepts that. Not that it understands how I feel about Dave but that it accepts that I can feel for Dave what Mr Average feels for Mrs Average.

That simple piece of paper means that if Dave got into trouble, I have the authority to help him, whether it be medical or civil or criminal even. See that piece of paper says we belong to each other, that we are as one and that is something you can’t put a price on or for that matter ignore.

See a simple piece of paper that says on January 21st 2005 Ian Kovnats and David Mondey became one, and are entitled, under the law, to all the benefits of a married couple. It means CPP and Medical but most importantly it means we are accepted as a couple. We don’t have to hide it now.

So yes, that piece of paper does indeed make a big difference in a gay person’s life, in real tangible ways as well as spiritual and emotional.

It says to kids who know they are gay, that there is acceptance so that perhaps when the bullying at school gets too much they can hang on to that hope, that dream, that at least in their Canada they are accepted by their government.

That simple piece of paper called a Marriage License that bears our two names, isn’t just a piece of paper but is in fact a Symbol of Equality, it says to me and to every gay person in this country that the Canadian Government doesn’t just Accepts gays, but that in this world of hate and racism and bullying, that Canada Stands Up For Its Citizens.

The Americans puff their chests and point to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia or the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island, but in Canada we don’t need fake statues. We have the Act of Parliament signed into law by our Sovereign that says in Canada, We Are Equal.

So perhaps next time you hear that ad from Stephen Harper and his Klan, asking you to Stand Up For Canada, you might want to stop and think about who is really standing up for you? Him and his notion of a Good Christian Government, or Paul Martin who risked his political future by passing the same sex marriage act, giving a minority in Canada, its due rights under the law?

Who really is putting it on the line for all of us? Stephen Harper who worships at the shrine of George Bush and the Religious Right, or Paul Martin who passes laws that are not politically correct, but are simply.. Right?

Which would you rather have defending your rights in Parliament?

Can you imagine for a second what it does feel like to go through your entire life living two lives simply because of the racist views of the Religious Right, the one’s like those who are a ‘guiding light to Canada and Stephen Harper‘ according to Harper? Can you imagine the pain many endured and never had the sweet feeling of satisfaction of waking up and knowing that at last, their government accepted them for who they were, and not some piece of trash?

On the 23rd of this month, when Dave and I go vote, that piece of paper will be in our thoughts as we mark the ballot. I can assure you that for us, that X will not be next to a conservative candidate’s name.

See, I like that piece of paper, I like to be legal in my own country.

Ian @ January 21, 2006