TORONTO -- Ontario law currently states that “for all purposes of the law of Ontario, a person is the child of his or her natural parents,” with the exception of adoption. But Bill 28, the “All Families Are Equal Act”, would erase this basic rule and remove the terms “mother,” “father,” and “natural parents” from all Ontario statutes in the process, replacing them simply with “parent.” The bill is expected to reach a final vote soon.
The bill allows up to four people to enter a “pre-conception parentage agreement” (PCPA), making them all co-parents when the child is born. It’s possible that none of the “parents” under a PCPA will actually be a biological parent, since outside donors of “reproductive material or an embryo” can be used, although the “birth parent” must be among the PCPA parents.
Presumably, with proper re-education, the public servants who draft laws, regulations, and policies, and the various officials who implement and enforce them, will soon learn to banish the terms “mother” and “father” (biological or otherwise) from their minds and avoid such blunders in the future. The rest of us should get with the program, in time.
Yet what appears to be the bill’s biggest blunder, in strict egalitarian terms, was left untouched by the legislative committee: a man can father (excuse my patriarchal language) a child through intercourse (what the bill calls “insemination by sperm donor”) without (legally) being his child’s parent if he first signs a contract with the “birth parent” agreeing not to be a parent. But the “birth parent” – the child’s mother – cannot do the same.
The law allows for a birth parent to enter into a "pre-conception parent agreement" with up to four people. Several conservatives criticized the bill as not properly anticipating unintended consequences.
New Democrat Cheri DiNovo (the bill's original author) said the same arguments of "not having thought through the ramifications" were made in opposition to same-sex marriage, and more than a decade later, "the sky has not fallen."
"Heterosexual couples that have divorced and remarried where children spend some time at one household and some time in another already have four parents," she said. "This is not a social experiment. This has been going on for as long as marriage has been going on. This is just equality we're talking about."
“We are pleased that LGBTQ families are finally going to be given equal rights,” said DiNovo. “This has long been overdue.”
Romans chapter one predicts a time when the wisdom of the world would manifest itself in abject foolishness, leading many into idolatry. But idols cannot be melted down and stirred into the melting pot and gotten comfortable with. As believers we can't make peace with them. So there is a growing crisis in the church over this subject. Christians are dividing over sexuality, and we must stand on the Word of God alone as our safe zone. There is no way to avoid the showdown that is coming.
But Jesus has built the church to be a bulwark of truth. What is at stake is the glory of God and the freedom that comes from such a God. Who will stand? Many will stand, even as the governments of the world chip away at God's created hereditary infrastructure--marriage.
Keep standing.
"Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen" (Romans 1:24-25).