Canada } Some Offended by Picture of Wedding Kissing While Others Embrace it

   

• By Community Team

Some readers criticized the inclusion of this photo of a gay couple sharing a wedding kiss, but were quickly admonished by other commenters.(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Friday that Canada's civil marriage laws need to change in order to recognize same-sex couples that live outside of the country.

The case arose out of a court filing where a federal lawyer said Canada couldn't grant a lesbian couple a divorce because they were never married in the first place. One woman lives in England and one in Florida. Neither jurisdiction recognizes same-sex marriage.

Readers on CBCNews.ca submitted more than 875 comments by Saturday afternoon. Opinions and arguments were extremely varied, with some focusing on the legal ramifications of same-sex marriages' status outside Canada.

Others debated the political fallout when Nicholson blamed the oversight on the previous Liberal government - and Interim Liberal Party Leader Bob Rae's response.

The top-rated comment by reader undermedia attracted hundreds "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" votes and started a discussion thread of more than 20 replies.

• "Reading through this brief story, for once I found myself on my way to being completely impressed with the class and levelheadedness displayed by our government in addressing this particular matter," wrote undermedia. "That is, until the compulsory jab at the previous Liberal government. I really ought to know better by now."

Readers replied to agree or contend undermedia's comment, who then replied to some defending or expanding upon the original post. Here's a sample of the replies:

• "Once again, who should the Conservatives blame? It was the Liberals who drafted the law. That's fact." - CJMills82
• "They could've simply stated 'there is a legislative gap in the law and we will fix it.' End of story. But no, their chronic superiority complex got the best of them once again and they just had to phrase it in a way that insinuates that the Liberals caused 'completely unfair' 'confusion and pain.'" - undermedia
• "This is a typical media child statement - making the main story out of this to be something negative on the Conservatives. Who cares if they talk about the past? Look at what is going on now. This is a good thing is it not? Why do you have to try and find something wrong with the Conservatives about it? If you can't change that way of thinking then go post on political blogs where your comments will be more relevant." - DougieFresh
• "See my last comment above. If the Conservatives had just managed to keep their hyper-partisan mouths shut, then the focus of the story wouldn't have to be on how they used this issue to denigrate the Liberal Party (because that is, in fact, what they did). Don't blame the media, blame the Conservatives." - undermedia

CJMills82 and others questioned why the civil marriage laws had garnered so much attention, including extensive coverage on CBC's Power and Politics with Evan Solomon, when it primarily involved couples living outside the country.

• "Why are we changing our laws, when it's the country's of origin that are the problem? These couples came here to get married to get around the laws of their home countries. And then they get upset when those country's don't honour it. Why is it up to Canada to fix that?" - CJMills82

• "'The case arose out of a court filing where a federal lawyer said Canada couldn't grant a lesbian couple a divorce because they were never married in the first place.' That's why. A Canadian government lawyer was arguing that gay marriage performed in Canada was not valid under certain circumstances. They're fixing that loophole. Kudos to the Government of Canada for doing the right thing. I wasn't expecting that." - Seedy1

Finally, several readers disapproved of the photograph of a gay couple sharing a kiss at their wedding in Ottawa from 2005. Some of the comments were deemed offensive and deleted by CBC.ca's moderation team, but not before being called out by other readers. (note: the CBC Community Team and moderation team for CBCNews.ca are separate entities).

• "A very disturbing photo!" - Extraordinary
• "What's disturbing about two good looking young people kissing?" - Mistrusted
• "Love is beautiful, wherever we see it." - Granny
• "I know, the dress on the woman standing behind them... awful. There oughta be a law." - Olive Dee

• "Nice do you really need to show two guys making out. Classless. Maybe you lefties think that your pushing your point here that all people must accept this lifestyle choice or else." - CashCropFarmer

• "Lighten up, friend. I don't have a left wing bone in my body, and I have no problem at all with same-sex marriages.

As my 85-year-old mom said to me over 50 years ago, it's hard enough to find anyone to love these days so no matter what the gender, if people have found someone to love, be happy for them, be nice to them, and wish them the best.

In fact, the more photos people see of men together, the more folks like you will realize that it isn't worth getting upset about. The sun will still rise tomorrow." - Ron Good