Quebec Court Declares Gay Marriage Legal
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Quebec homosexuals have the right to marry, the province's top court said Friday.
The Quebec Court of Appeal (search) upheld a lower-court ruling that the traditional definition of marriage is discriminatory and unjustified. Same-sex marriages also have been declared legal in Ontario and British Columbia.
Canada's Supreme Court has been asked to clarify the constitutionality of gay marriage in a nonbinding ruling due next year, and Prime Minister Paul Martin (search) has promised to introduce a bill to legalize it.
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The Quebec court case pitted some religious groups against Michael Hendricks and Rene Leboeuf, who want to marry after being together for 30 years.
The religious groups were appealing a September 2002 ruling by Justice Louise Lemelin of Quebec's Superior Court, who said restricting marriage to a union between a man and a woman was unjustified under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (search).