Jason Silver

Friday, March 11th, 2005

We Must Be Careful How We Speak Now

http://www.christianity.ca/news/social-issues/2005/03.002.html

As a result, there are no more references to "wives," "husbands," "widows" or "widowers," in Ontario's statutes. Bill 171 was nothing if not comprehensive—not only the Marriage Act was amended, but 69 other statutes, including the Fuel Tax Act and the Tobacco Tax Act. The way that Ontarians have always spoken about marriage and family life is now verboten in Ontario law. The idea that homosexual marriage is just adding another form of marriage to the books, while leaving everything else the same has now been exposed for the impossibility it is. If marriage must be re-invented because it is heteronormative, then it follows that the way we speak about marriage must also be re-invented. It won't be long before the local school board bans permission forms that use heteronormative language like "mother" and "father."

~Jason