News

As a heavy rain poured down on this picturesque Nova Scotia community, Scott Brison made history Saturday by becoming the first MP to marry his same-sex partner since gay marriage was legally recognized two years ago.

The Liberal politician wed his partner Maxime St. Pierre at a small white church near Mr. Brison's country home in Cheverie, in what guests described as joyful and emotional ceremony.

Guests included Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, former prime minister Joe Clark, former Liberal defence minister Bill Graham, former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna and Liberal MP John Godfrey.

"It's something we need to celebrate and we must be proud that Canada is showing the way," Mr. Dion said after the wedding.

"I came first to celebrate love and happiness between two friends of mine, but if by my presence it helps a bit to reinforce a newly recognized right and to encourage other countries to do the same, I am pleased."

Mr. McKenna said the wedding would help further legitimize same-sex marriage, and he said everyone sitting in the pews was aware of the event's significance.

"Everyone involved felt like they were part of a history-making event," said Mr. McKenna. "It seemed like a validation of a long process."

Also on the guest list was former prime minister Paul Martin, who led the Liberal government that passed the same-sex marriage legislation.

The wedding was originally planned at the edge of a beach, where a large white tent had been set up, but it was relocated to a United church just up the road.

Mr. Brison, 40, had refused to comment on the marriage ceremony and details were kept quiet by his family and friends, who were asked not to reveal anything about the event.

Cheverie is a small community of about 200 in the province's Annapolis Valley.

Residents in the area were playing down the significance of the wedding, noting that Mr. Brison has never defined his political career through his sexual orientation.

Just up a two-lane winding road from where the wedding was taking place, Pat Eldridge of nearby Canning said she is happy for Mr. Brison.

"If they're in love and want to be together, then that's awesome," she said as she shopped at a yard sale. "Love is hard to find."

Another resident who didn't want her name used said: "To each their own. Everyone's entitled to their own opinions and own way of life."

Local restaurant owner Doris Hagman, who is a friend of Mr. Brison's, said she was surprised at how quiet it was.

"I am surprised that it hasn't been busier than on a normal Saturday morning," she said as she prepared the lunch specials at the Avon Emporium.

Ms. Hagman, who wouldn't say if she was attending the wedding, said she wouldn't personally call the union a marriage, but she is still happy for her friend.

"I'm absolutely supporting him in anything I can do for him," she said.

"He's a very fair guy . . . he's not just a politician who went through school to study politics and then goes into it. He knows economics, politics and social issues from the bottom and has not forgotten where he comes from."

Mr. Brison is an MP with a national profile, having sought the leadership of both the Progressive Conservative and Liberal parties.

In 2000 when Mr. Brison was sitting as a Progressive Conservative in the Commons, he resigned his seat so Clark — who was the party's leader — could run in a by-election.

Mr. Brison ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives himself in 2003 before switching to the Liberals just days after it merged with the Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative party. He ran for the Liberal leadership in the contest won by Mr. Dion last year.

Earlier this week, Bob Stead, mayor of nearby Wolfville and a long-time friend of Mr. Brison's, said there is little talk of the event in his Kings-Hants riding.

"I think for us it's kind of a so-what kind of thing," he said in an interview.

The executive director of Egale Canada, a national gay and lesbian advocacy group, said the wedding marks an important milestone for gay rights in Canada.

"It's extremely significant," Helen Kennedy said Saturday in an interview from Toronto.

"The more that we see people like Scott getting married, then it normalizes it in the mainstream, and hopefully there will come a day when it won't be an anomaly, and we won't care and Scott and others can marry just like anybody else does."

Mr. Brison is the second high-profile politician this summer to marry their same-sex partner.

A few weeks ago, George Smitherman, Ontario's first openly gay cabinet minister, wed his partner Christopher Peloso at a lodge near Sudbury, Ont.

Mr. Brison publicly acknowledged he is gay in 2002 and became Canada's first openly gay cabinet minister in 2004. But he has always closely guarded his private life, saying once that he is "not a gay politician, but a politician who happens to be gay."

After Mr. Brison's engagement to Mr. St. Pierre was first reported by The Canadian Press in October 2005, Brison played down the social significance.

"I'm looking forward to the day when the idea of a gay or lesbian politician getting married is not a story at all," he said at the time.