Binks, the head webelf at CaNN, posted a rant today. Well, who wouldn't? I, too, feel one coming on.

Less than a year ago, Canada's sophisticated and urbane cultural and political "leaders" were ridiculing Stephen Harper for warning that, if same-sex marriage is legalised, then there will be no basis for refusing to recognise polygamous marriages. No way! Get serious! What a joke! Harper is engaging in "unabashed fear-mongering"; he's a "dumb hick" and "a yokel". Justice Minister Irwin Cotler pooh-poohed the idea:

We don't see any connection, I repeat, any connection between the issue of polygamy and the issue of same-sex marriage. . . . Any attempt to make that kind of connection is simply a way of confusing distinguishable issues in every regard.

Even the usually bright Andrew Coyne sneered:

The slippery slope, in other words, is an illusion. Nothing connects gay marriage to polygamy. Nothing obliges the courts to overturn the ban on polygamy, and nothing would prevent the majority from reinstating it if they did. We are not prisoners of unreason, however much some might pretend we are.

"Not prisoners of unreason"? Andrew Coyne is apparently not well-acquainted with the agency of the federal government called Status of Women Canada, which has just released a report calling for the repeal of Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada—the section outlawing polygamy.

Chief author Martha Bailey says criminalizing polygamy, typically a marriage involving one man and several wives, serves no good purpose and prosecutions could do damage to the women and children in such relationships.

"Why criminalize the behaviour?" she said in an interview. "We don't criminalize adultery. In light of the fact that we have a fairly permissive society, why are we singling out that particular form of behaviour for criminalization?"

"Fairly permissive"? How many more rules regarding sexual behaviour have to be nullified before Ms Bailey would classify Canada as "very permissive"? How many are left?

I'd say all those worldly-wise pundits and politicians owe Stephen Harper an apology; but don't hold your breath.

Be sure to read Binks' rant.