Quote:
Originally Posted by sworkhard
Looking at Service Alberta's site, it appears that all Marriage Commissioner are government officials/representatives, and as such it only seems correct that they should not be allowed to turn away gay couples. I made the original statement assuming religious and civil marriage 'officers' were all marriage commissioners when they are not. If they are a member of the clergy of a religious organization, they should be allowed to say no if it's against their religion/conscience, but not if they are marriage commissioners who are government officials.
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Fair enough. That is my position too (and, incidentally, this protection for religious leaders [who are not agents of the government and therefore to whom of course the Charter does not apply]) was specifically included in the amendments to the federal
Marriage Act which permitted same-sex marriages.