Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
See I would agree, but I just can't in certain points.
It seems that the groups that are doing polygamist marriages are groups where the men are definitely in the position of power and near ownership. These marriages are also usually arranged by the church leaders or community leaders to me that puts these woman into a position no better then that of slave. How much pressure was exerted on these young girls to marry these creepy old men?
It also seems that there is quite a bit of control exerted over these woman.
I think that the government has made a mistake in these charges and should have focused on the underage marriage issues.
There's almost no way that this isn't going to open some supreme court intervention at some point.
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I think you're on the money here.
As for how this relates to gay marriage, it's a fairly simple line of reasoning.
The Charter's equality provisions have this to say:
15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
Note that it says nothing about sexuality. However, sexuality is an
analogous ground which has been read into the Charter by the courts. This is a big part of the argument underlying the pro-gay-marriage argument: you can't discriminate on the basis of homosexuality because it receives protection under the Charter, therefore you can't prevent homosexual couples from marrying - a right extended by the state to heterosexuals.
Religion, on the other hand, is an
explicit ground upon which you cannot discriminate. If one religion allows polygamy, how can the state stop that practice without infringing the Constitution?