January 15, 2004

Hon. Irwin Cotler
Minister of Justice
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa ON K1A 0H8

Dear Mr. Cotler:

The Canadian Unitarian Council strongly supports equal-marriage
rights for all Canadians, regardless of sexual orientation, and
opposes 'separate but equal' civil unions. As Canadian Unitarians,
honouring the inherent worth and dignity of all persons, we have been
encouraged by the government's efforts to implement court decisions
extending equal marriage rights to all people. As religious persons,
honouring Jewish and Christian Scripture as one of our civilization's
sources, we are discouraged by the misuse of a few select passages
from that heritage to foster prejudice against a segment of our
population. The over-arching call of Scripture is to have justice
flow down from government like water.

The Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) has been vocal in its support
of Gay and Lesbian rights in general and specifically equal marriage
rights. In February 2003, CUC made a presentation to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights regarding same-sex marriage and has made numerous statements since then.

All Unitarian and Universalist ministers serving in Canada have publicly
stated they are willing and ready to perform same-gender marriages. Many of our clergy have performed such marriages in British Columbia and Ontario, often for couples who have had holy union ceremonies earlier. Our ministers and lay chaplains tell us that these have been some of the most moving ceremonies they have ever performed.

We continue to support the present proposed legislation which explicitly

guarantees the right of ministers not to perform ceremonies of which they do not approve. The substitution of civil unions for male and female gay couples would deny our ministers the right to perform ceremonies of which they do approve, and thus reduce our religious freedom.

The Canadian Unitarian Council is an organization of forty-four
congregations located throughout Canada with 5,200 individual members.

Both at an individual and group level, Unitarians have a long
tradition of supporting all human rights, including those of gay,
lesbian, transgendered and intersexed people. Arising out of the work
of outspoken reformers and dissenters within the Christian tradition
five centuries ago, the Unitarian movement today flows in a broad

religious stream augmented by Universalist, Humanist, Pagan and other
progressive contributions.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Bowen

President, Canadian Unitarian Council