Today we got to learn that a Canadian government lawyer has filed briefs in court involving a divorce case that gay marriages by foreigners may not be valid in Canada. That is of course the headline and NOT the law.
READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP...
We have reached out to one of our trusted sources in Canada who was able to clarify this story after consulting with a law firm because he only lives in Canada 4 months out of the year and is of course worried that his marriage as well may not be valid. The scoop was that gay marriages by gay couples who live in countries or jurisdictions that do not recognize gay marriage such marriages are invalid. Our source says that is not the case.
According to him, after consulting the law firm, ALL gay marriages performed legally in Canada are fully valid even for gay couples whose home country or state does not recognize such marriage. What the government originally cited and what was omitted from all the hyped headlines was that according to Canadian law in order for any married couple whose marriage was solemnized in Canada to obtain a divorce must be living in Canadian territory or province for at least one year before filling for divorce, otherwise all gay marriages performed in Canada are legally valid and have NOT been voided. This has not been a problem since most gay couples are in fact Canadian and most of the couples that did travel to Canada to get married have remained together, I mean why spent all that money to go to Canada only to get divorced, right?
For now the Canadian government has vowed to change the divorce law in order to accommodate foreign gay marriages. In a perfect world, gay couples should be able to get married where they live and avoid these needless headaches, but we do not live in a perfect world now.
Well, I hope this post will calm some few nerves.
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