OTTAWA - Martin Cauchon, justice minister of Canada, citing increased support in polls, asked Parliament yesterday to consider legalizing gay marriage or a new ''civil union'' category, which would recognize homosexual unions.
Those are two of four options he asked the House of Commons Justice Committee to examine in an attempt to deal with conflicting court decisions on whether marriage should remain heterosexual only.
Parliament has more than once defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, and Cauchon said that remained an option, but he wanted to open the subject up to debate.
''There's an increasing support ... as regard to the question of same-sex marriage,'' Cauchon said. ''So I guess it's important to face that situation.''
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