Stand For Marriage
Photos* and comment by Tony Copple

May 23, Queens Park, Toronto - Following the success of the March 4 Marriage on April 9, 2005 in Ottawa, Rev. Tristan Emmanuel organised this Stand for Marriage on Victoria Day in Toronto. Again, representatives of many faiths were among the 20 or so speakers, and this time there was an Anglican, myself, though certainly not officially representing the denomination. My estimate of the crowd was around 7,000. David MacDonald's band provided worship including of course his rallying anthem "One man one woman."

In addition to Tristan Emmanuel, speakers included Ron Mainse, Rev Dominic Tse, who brought on a Chinese couple where the husband was previously gay, Charles McVety, Dan Heffernan, Bishop Yuriy Kalishchuk, Rabbi Mendel Kaplan and Imam Suleiman Yacoob, all warning of the dangers to our society and civilization that the passing of Bill C-38 will result in, and emphasizing the uniqueness of marriage as between one man and one woman. The pictures below provide the general atmosphere, and a second page shows many of the speaker from the stage and from the front row of the crowd where my wife Laurie-Ann and her mother Carol were enthusiastic supporters.

*Two photos are from the event website