Just Married : Gay Marriage And The Expansion Of Human Rights

The timing could not have been better for Toronto authors (and couple) Kevin Bourassa and Joe soon after publication of Just Gay Marriage and the Expansion of Human Rights , the Ontario Superior Court unanimously ruled on July 12, 2002, that excluding same-sex couples from marriage is discriminatory and unconstitutional. The long road to that legal victory is detailed in Bourassa and Varnell's articulate, eloquent, and highly entertaining memoir. Their January, 2001, wedding at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto made international headlines and prompted intense public and political battles. One of the more memorable anecdotes in the book concerns the wedding invitation Bourassa sent Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, whose office initially sent Bourassa and Varnell a form letter of congratulations. After someone in the PMO went "Oops," a second letter was quickly dispatched, uncongratulating the prospective grooms Just Married includes a brief but concise history of the gay rights movement in Canada. But the book really shines when it spotlights Bourassa and Varnell's rise from relative obscurity to master public relations. Theirs is a compelling story of two ordinary Canadians leading extraordinary lives, and demonstrating that religion and gay life are not incompatible. --Richard Burnett