FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Jan 25, 2005   
CHRISTIAN CLERGYMAN SAYS LIBERALS HAVE MORAL OBLIGATION 
TO DEFEND THE CHARTER


Fredericton - January 25, 2005 -- New Brunswick’s Reverend Dr. Eldon Hay is 
welcoming the federal Liberal caucus to Fredericton with a simple message to 
MPs: stand up for our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“The Charter of Rights and Freedoms – as our courts have repeatedly insisted – 
protects both the rights of lesbian and gay couples to be married as well as 
protecting the rights of religious denominations to define religious marriage 
as they see fit,” said Reverend Hay, who represents Canadian For Equal 
Marriage. “We should never consider any of our rights and freedoms to 
be ‘notwithstanding.’”

Reverend Hay is an ordained minister of the United Church of Canada and is 
professor emeritus of religious studies at Mount Allison University. He is a 
Member of the Order of Canada.

“Pierre Trudeau gave us the Charter in order to protect all Canadians,” said 
Reverend Hay. “The Charter protects freedom of religion and it protects 
against discrimination. The federal government and all Liberal MPs have the 
duty and the moral obligation to honour these Charter protections and to 
ensure our laws do not discriminate.”

Reverend Hay has two sons, one of them heterosexual and one of them gay. 

“The rights, responsibilities and freedoms of my straight son should be the 
same as that for my gay son.”

Canadians for Equal Marriage is a national coalition of organizations whose 
memberships comprise millions of Canadians, including the Canadian 
Association of Social Workers, Canadian Labour Congress, EGALE and the 
Canadian Federation of Students.


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Information: 

Marie-Josée Lapointe
Canadians For Equal Marriage
(613) 244-5777 (G-4 Strategic Communications)