Canadian Married Homosexual Couple Refused US admittance

Sep 18, 2003 - The Associated Press
Homosexual Couple Married in Canada Angered by U.S. Refusal to Admit Them as a Family

TORONTO (AP) - A homosexual couple married in Canada said Thursday they were denied entry to the United States as a family and told they had to file individual customs forms instead.
Kevin Bourassa and Joe Varnell said they refused to do so, and their lawyer said he is looking into possible legal action for alleged violation of the couple's rights.

Bourassa and Varnell abandoned their trip to a human rights conference in Georgia after a U.S. Customs official at Toronto's Pearson International Airport refused to accept their joint customs declaration form, saying the United States doesn't recognize same-sex marriages.

"We could have filled out separate forms, but how much of your dignity do you want to have chipped away?" Bourassa said. "We feel we had an affront to our dignity, so we decided to go back home."

Beth Poisson, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Ottawa, noted that U.S. law defines marriage as the legal union of a man and woman, and spouse as a member of the opposite sex.

"The customs officers were upholding U.S. law," she said.

Court rulings in Ontario and British Columbia this year made same-sex marriage legal in those provinces. Bourassa and Varnell held a wedding ceremony before the court decisions, and their marriage subsequently became legal.

The Canadian government has proposed a law legalizing same-sex marriage, but the measure is undergoing judicial review. The issue has deeply divided the nation, with conservative groups and churches leading a protest movement against the proposed bill.
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