Three years after they tied the knot in Toronto, Yosi Ben-Ari and Laurent Schumann were planning a party last night to celebrate that Israel has acknowledged their marriage."It's a great relief. At last," Mr. Ben-Ari said yesterday after a precedent-setting Supreme Court ruling that will give the couple -- a Canadian-born set designer and French-born literary translator who have been together 21 years -- legal rights as a married couple in their adopted home country. "It opens hope for lots of other couples. . . ."
In a 6-1 ruling, the Israeli Supreme Court has ordered the state to register same-sex marriages performed abroad, after the petition by Mr. Ben-Ari and Mr. Schumann and another couple on the issue. Three other couples joined the case later.
Jubilant civil-rights activists pointed out yesterday that the decision goes well beyond rulings on similar cases made in some U.S. courts, and credited Canada for giving them the grounds to make the argument.
Though other countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain, permit same-sex marriage, virtually all require at least one of the partners to be a citizen. Canada does not. "Without this, these people had no way to get married at all," said Yoav Loeff, a spokesman for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
After weeks of debate that saw hard-line religious leaders compare gays and lesbians to barnyard animals, the decision is a ray of light for the rights movement.
(Read More - Globe & Mail)
Happy are they who maintain justice ...
No comments:
Post a Comment