CBC: About 900 LGBT couples tied knot since same-sex marriage legalized in Manitoba

As CBC reports:

Twelve years ago this Friday, Manitoba became the fifth province or territory in the country to legalize same-sex marriage. Since that 2004 landmark decision by the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench, there have been on average 79 same-sex marriages in the province annually, figures released by the Vital Statistics office show.

Karen Busby, law professor at the University of Manitoba and director of the Centre of Human Rights Research, was intimately involved in the court battles in the early 2000s that ultimately paved the way for equal marriage rights.

“If you’d asked me 20 years ago whether or not gay marriage would happen in my lifetime, I would have said ‘no,'” said Busby.

After joining Egale Canada — a group that fights for equal rights for gay and lesbian citizens — Busby said the group anticipated decades of drawn-out court battles.

“But actually the success came relatively quickly because we won at court of appeal levels and it turned around much faster than I had expected,” Busby recalled.

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