Same-sex families need recognition

Approaching the Village with Danny on Saturday afternoon: a house on Maitland Street.

Canada's bureaucracy doesn't know how to handle same-sex marriage yet. Bonnie and Tana have been trying for months to get a passport for their baby, Molly, in time for a trip to Paris this Thursday. Tana repeatedly contacted Égale requesting support, but never received a response. Molly was born to two legally married women, but Bonnie had taken the extra precaution of adopting.

Last week Ottawa still had failed to process their application. So Tana spent several desperate hours in phone calls between home, the local riding office where the MP's staff co-ordinated with her friend, and a ring of civil servants in Ottawa. Although MP Brenda Chamberlain opposes same-sex marriage, her staff were patient and helpful.

At one point Tana was connected to a new person unfamiliar with the interminable process and its significant players. Understanding only that Molly was adopted, the woman on the phone said to Tana, "I can't speak to you. I have to speak with Molly's adoptive mother."

Exasperated, Tana said, "I pushed her out of my vagina!"

I asked Bonnie whether these civil servants were being deliberately obstinate. She said no. They simply had never handled a situation like this.

Molly got her passport.

( New format, helping Sylvie move, knitting )