A kiss by two Michaels changed the meaning of marriage in Canada in 2003

OTTAWA (CP) - Michael Leshner and Michael Stark joyfully kissed after their impromptu wedding in June - an image that revolutionized what it means to be married.

"It was the kiss that went around the world," said Stark, 45, who still wells up when watching news tapes of the historic civil ceremony. "To this day, people will stop us on the street and congratulate us." Photos of their embrace flashed across Canada and overseas, making Stark and Leshner the poster couple for a legal and political battle that will rage on in the new year.

The Toronto residents, together for 22 years, said "I do" less than six hours after the Ontario Court of Appeal said they could.

The court echoed two other judgments in British Columbia and Quebec that said barring same-sex couples from the altar violates their equality rights.

A federal definition restricting marriage to "one man and one woman" is unconstitutional, the courts said.


The Ontario ruling, unlike the others, took immediate effect. It stoked intense national debate as more than 1,000 gay and lesbian couples raced down the aisle.

Only Belgium and the Netherlands allow same-sex marriage.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien, faced with mounting court losses, gave up the legal fight to preserve traditional marriage. His reluctant retreat outraged critics who said such a vital social issue should not be left to unelected judges.

Religious and conservative family groups loudly protested, defending heterosexual marriage as the ideal for raising children.

Still, Chretien announced on June 17 that Ottawa would draft legislation allowing same-sex weddings. A new marriage definition is before the Supreme Court of Canada for constitutional testing before voting begins in the Commons.

Ottawa wants to ensure its law won't force religious groups to solemnize gay unions against their will.

In one of its most anticipated hearings, the top court will listen to gay activists and opponents in April. A related case, under appeal in Quebec, could also wind up in the highest court.

Critic Gwen Landolt says voices against gay marriage have been disturbingly smothered.

"There's been a fundamental stifling of free speech on this," said the national vice-president of REAL Women of Canada, a lobby group for traditional family values.

Saskatchewan MP Larry Spencer, fired as the Canadian Alliance family issues critic and temporarily suspended from caucus, is the latest example, she said.

He was forced to retract comments that homosexuality should be outlawed and that gays have conspired to attract boys on playgrounds and in locker rooms.

"People are entitled to have a voice," Landolt said in an interview. "It may not suit everybody, but that's democracy."

Her group is applying to intervene at the high court hearing in April, urging it to preserve traditional marriage.

The legal war is not over, but the newlyweds who started it all aren't fretting.

Leshner and Stark - who call themselves The Michaels - exchanged rings in a nondescript waiting room at a Toronto courthouse.

For Leshner, a Toronto Crown attorney and criminal lawyer, it was the latest in a string of victories for same-sex rights.

He successfully sued his employer in 1992, clearing the way for all Ontario public servants to share benefits and pensions with gay or lesbian partners.

Leshner has confidence in the legal system, but hopes incoming Prime Minister Paul Martin will follow Chretien's lead.

Martin has so far talked cryptically about "other options" beyond the draft legislation that may be considered.

"Please, Mr. Martin, be on the side of the Charter of Rights," Leshner, 55, said in an interview. "Let people who are in love be able to choose marriage and you'll have started a legacy that puts you on the path to greatness."

Pictures of the two Michaels kissing are still widely seen on TV as promotional news footage.

For many people, it was the first time such photos entered their home in newspapers and on supper-hour broadcasts.

Not everyone shared the newlyweds' happiness.

Letters to the editor were a blend of it's-about-time approval mixed with angry protest. Some readers denounced The Michaels as a sick aberration.

Call-in radio shows crackled with equally passionate calls for and against gay weddings. It was an apt reflection of public opinion polls that have steadily shown Canadians to be almost evenly divided on the issue.

Liberal pollster Michael Marzolini says support for same-sex marriage will rise as the population ages and stronger acceptance among younger Canadians grows.

So what's next for Leshner?

His mom Ethel, 90, has watched his career with pride and beamed by his side as he married Stark. She even burst into a spontaneous rendition of O Canada from her wheelchair.

"She says: 'Enough with the gay thing,' " Leshner says with a laugh. "I should do something for the elderly and the poor now."

http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2003/12/20/293174-cp.html