The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) - 2005.04.18
Rally backs 'traditional marriage'
By Brad Brown

Feelings on both sides of the issue ran high Saturday at a Saskatoon rally to support traditional marriage. 

Maurice Vellacott, MP for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin, was joined by other opponents of same-sex marriage in the fight to maintain what Vellacott calls the traditional definition of marriage. 

"We are committed to upholding in law the traditional definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman," Vellacott told his audience. 

Vellacott was joined by Brad Trost, MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt, and a host of other speakers from various faiths and career paths. But it wasn't just the speakers who were impassioned. 

A large majority of those in attendance were there to back Vellacott's position, but that didn't stop determined believers in same-sex marriage from making their presence felt, either. 

At one point, Vellacott announced changing the definition of marriage is "categorically wrong," sparking an outcry from his opponents. 

With Vellacott charging that his position and that of the Conservative Party of Canada is shared by a "vast majority" of Canadians, members of the Unitarian Congregation of Saskatoon voiced their displeasure with these views 

"We don't think there's any difference between a same-sex couple and a heterosexual couple," Anne Barker, the group's president, said in an interview. "They're both couples of people who love each other and are committed to being together and being a family. 

"We don't force anybody to marry who they don't want to marry," she added. "I have 100 per cent faith that our government will do the right thing." 

Vellacott supporters Leroy and Verna Peters of Dalmeny made their views known Saturday that "the right thing" is upholding the current definition of marriage. 

"Our society won't stand the test of time if we don't support marriage as traditional," said Verna. "I think that children need the role of a mother and a father in their family." 

"It (same-sex marriage) is a deviation from what God calls the centre of living and our lives," added Leroy. 

"The problem with gay marriages is that they go exactly the opposite to what God says we should be living like." 

For Saskatoon resident Ken Bos, who comes from a "conservative religious upbringing," the religious arguments don't wash. 

"I know that being homosexual is just part of who I am," he said. 

"The reality in today's society, Canadian society, is that a lot of people don't adhere to Biblical principles in other areas of life," he added. 

Despite the presence of gay-marriage supporters, the rally went off peacefully and concluded with a march down Spadina Crescent.