Canada, following both the Netherlands (2001) and Belgium (2003), was the third international country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2005. The road for many gay men and lesbians has been a difficult, and trying one, but although they have yet to reach the end of their fight, they have won many triumphant battles, one of which being the legalization of same-sex marriage. The Canadian government may have been one of the first countries to indeed legalize such an important human right, but that does not excuse the federal government from constant trials and tribulations in which the LGBTQ community has had to endure for years. From the Canadian government spying on queers, to deeming homosexuality as a mental illness in which psychiatric doctors …show more content…
Phy-Olsen writes how Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Chinese Religion, and Zen and Shinto all glorified marriage; some more highly than others which played a key component on how each religion felt towards homosexuality. Many of these religions penalized homosexuality; for example, within Judaism, punishment for homosexuality had been known to be tougher on men because it was believed that “God gave fruitfulness” to the men, thus explaining why they would receive the death penalty. Although homosexuality was prohibited within Judaism, gay and lesbian Jews began to publicize themselves in the 1970s, and gay marriage is now currently beginning to happen within the religion although it is still shamed upon. The change seen within the multiple different religious community in Canada is what assisted much of the public into supporting same-sex marriage. Change is common nowadays within the religious communities, Christianity, as seen in the Canadian spectrum, has had a profoundly public set views on the subject of homosexuality, some opposing the subject, other remaining neutral, while others believe that homosexuality was