The Point

What Makes a Family, eh?

10/5/20

John Stonestreet

Roberto Rivera

“What makes a family,” people often say, “is love.” That line has been used to justify legal recognition of all sorts of relationships. But, according to one Canadian judge, you don’t even need conjugal love anymore.

The case involved a gay man who tried to sponsor a woman he met overseas so she could move to Canada. They dated and even had a child together, but Canadian immigration ruled they were not a couple because of his sexual orientation. A judge disagreed, pointing to the Netflix show “Grace and Frankie” as evidence that “mixed-orientation” couples are becoming more common.

The couple’s sexual orientations, said the judge, “did not foreclose the possibility” that they “are in a committed relationship of some permanence.”

We tackle that question what makes a family in a video that’s part of the What Would You Say? series. Come to Whatwouldyousay.org to learn how to make the case for what makes a family.

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Resources:

Doesn’t Love Make a Family?

What Would You Say? | September 1, 2019

Gay man and straight woman can form a conjugal relationship, Canadian court rules

Graham Slaughter | CTV News | September 29, 2020

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