OTTAWA—Echoing similar rulings in Ontario and Quebec, a third Canadian court has affirmed the right of gays and lesbians to marry, placing further pressure on the federal government to change the country's marriage laws.
The British Columbia Court of Appeal yesterday struck down a lower court ruling that said marriage should be restricted to heterosexuals.
The appeal judges wrote "that the common law definition of marriage contravenes the Charter and it cannot be justified in contemporary Canadian society," and gave the government until July 12, 2004, to rewrite the federal law denying gays and lesbians the right to marry.
The other courts also gave the government until 2004 to rewrite the laws.
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