We're Married. Deal With It.

I'm married.

When faced with those little boxes on forms that ask about marital status, I check "married".

That means legally wed, Stephen Harper, just as legally, as morally, as spiritually wed as you and the missus.

I don't have a wife. I don't have a husband. I don't have a "significant other", I have a partner, for life, til death do us part, in sickness and in health. We share a name, we share a home, we share a life.

Holy matrimony, Harpie!! The world hasn't ended. No sign of the Apocalypse happening out here on the Left Coast. I haven't even heard of plagues of locusts or burning bushes in Alberta! How could that be?

I'm a woman who, with close friends and family present, pledged to love, honour and cherish the woman I love. We had a Spiritual Advisor, and she joyfully led us through the most important part of this ceremony: my promise to Christine to be faithful and loving through all our days, and that same promise from her to me. That, to me, says we are married. The Justice of the Peace, who signed our Marriage License, made it "legal".

Therin lies the rub.

We are "legally married". That has nothing to do with God, a church, religious doctrine, morality, beliefs, dogma or opinion. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms says that it is our right to be treated equally to every other Canadian citizen. Equal means "the same as", so no, "holy union" will not cut it. A "Commitment Ceremony" is not the same as a "Legal Marriage", I'm MARRIED.

I, like many others, used to feel that a Certificate of Marriage was "just a piece of paper". No longer. Since we received that piece of paper, it has become sacred to me. It means, in a very real way, that Christine and I are considered equal to every other couple that has chosen wedded bliss. We have all the very same rights and responsibilities. I imagine that women felt much the same way just after they were declared "persons", and slaves felt it after being given their freedom. It has nothing to do with the opinions of Gomer's Uncle Dad, it has to do with what is right, and just, and equal. It is the law. Eventually, it will be required that all ten provinces and all three territories provide Marriage Licences to same sex couples. Even Alberta. Even New Brunswick(the armpit of civilization). People can protest, they can spew all the hate-filled rhetoric spoon-fed to them by churches and the right-winged bigots they support, but it will happen.

Deal with it.

So, Mr Harper, and every other person in Canada with highly overblown ideas about your own importance, get used to it, I'm married, I'm staying married. If that offends your precious sensibilities and makes you feel that your own marriage is now somehow tarnished, get a divorce....but do it quickly, we'll soon have that right as well!