Oh, Canada!
The troublous trolley trundles forward in Canada. In furtherance of its same-sex marriage law, Ontario has a new bill that will rid all its statutes of non-gender-neutral references. Attorney General Michael Bryant stated, on introducing the bill, "Currently, the statutes offend the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
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“A perusal of the bill shows substitutions for previously used spousal terms in numerous places throughout 73 Ontario Statutes as follows:
“Widows”, widowers” replaced by “surviving spouses”
“A person of the opposite sex” replaced by “a person”
“Wives, husbands” replaced by “spouses”
“Two persons of the opposite sex” replaced by “two persons”
“The wife or husband” replaced by “spouse”
“A husband or wife” replaced by “spouse”
“The husband and wife” replaced by “the spouses”
“A man and a woman” replaced by “two persons”
“Husband and wife” replaced by “spouses”
“Cohabited as man and wife” replaced by “cohabited as a married couple”
“Same-sex partner” replaced by “spouse”
