Canada has WMDs

[dahak_i]

"Canadian marriage licenses have always been accepted in the United States, but now that the definition of marriage in the two countries appears likely to diverge, legal challenges to same-sex couples claiming rights and privileges deriving from their Canadian marriages seem certain to arise in at least some states."

Simply not honoring the Canadian contract doesn't work. It's a legal document, and the State's only reason for ignoring it would be "...because you're gay." At that point, it would be the same as saying "...because you're black/white/hispanic/yellow with polka dots."

The US is faced with two choices: Honor the contract, or don't. But either choice will have a deep impact. If we choose to honor it, we take a large step towards legalizing gay marriage in the US. If not, we would not be able to honor ANY Canadian marriages. At that point, you can't pick and choose... unless, of course, you want to be sued by every single exception you make.

From a personal standpoint, marriage is a relationship wherein you pledge yourself to your spouse(s). Whatever religious practices you bring into the marriage, you do so only on a personal level.

Various other posts in this thread make the point that as far as the law is concerned, marriage is merely a contract. Read them, they explain it better than I can ;-).

In either case, it is as I said before: The US must choose one way or the other. The time left for simply sitting on the fence post is almost gone.

Of course, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe American gays won't marry in Canada. And even if they do, they CERTAINLY won't try to continue to live in the US. And even if they do, I'm sure each and every one of them will be perfectly happy if the State decides not to honor their marriage. Because if so much as ONE couple in ONE state decides to challenge, in court, to have their marriage honored, you've got a PRECEDENT.

I'm not a student of law, nor do I claim to be any more than vaguely aware of exactly how it works. But all it takes is once. One case, one ruling, either for or against. Getting a foot in that door is tough, but this legislation in Canada has kicked it wide open.