Nearly ten years after same-sex marriage became legal in Canada, Alberta’s Conservative caucus voted Thursday to amend the wording of the Marriage Act.
The proposed amendment is a step in the process of redefining the meaning of matrimony in Alberta, replacing references to unions between a man and a woman, to gender-neutral language.
“It’s good news, it’s a good news story for Alberta,” Dr. Kristopher Wells with the U of A Institute for Sexual Minority Studies said Thursday. “It’s a good story for a vision of Alberta being inclusive to everyone.
“I think we’re seeing a change and the change is being led by the people and perhaps our legislators are actually listening and responding.”
Now that the amendment has been approved by caucus, the next step is to introduce legislation with those changes.
“Some people find it offensive that it’s still in the preamble to the Marriage Act, so it’s appropriate for us to update that,” Premier Dave Hancock said Thursday.
The vote came nine years after the federal government forced the province to allow same-sex marriages.
The decision Thursday crossed party lines, with all parties expected to support the changes.
“It sounds like change that’s overdue, we have had legal same-sex marriage for over a decade and bringing Alberta laws into compliance with federal laws seems like the right thing to do,” Wildrose Party Leader Danielle Smith said.
Also Thursday, caucus voted to amend another law that would allow transgender individuals to change their birth certificates without first having to prove they’ve undergone gender reassignment surgery – a move LGBTQ supporters have been pushing for years.
“It’s a message to Canada that the old stereotypes of Alberta being the red neck, rough neck, oil executive province have changed,” Wells said.
Now that caucus has approved the amendments, they will be officially introduced in the legislature.
With files from Ashley Molnar
