Saturday, September 17, 2005

High on Gay Marriage

Don't look for George Bush to invite filmmaker Albert Nerenberg to dinner any sooner than he welcomes Michael Moore. This movie maker though does not ridicule or challenge him.

His new film Escape to Canada debuts Monday at the New Montreal FilmFest. It simply revels in our border buddy's love of freedom. It plugs into and plugs two of Bush's least favorites. On June 10, 2003, Canadian courts legalized both possession of personal pot and same-sex marriage in a province –– coincidentally in different rooms in the same courthouse.

As Nerenberg put it to Canadian Press' Nelson Wyatt:"I think this kind of freedom tourism that Canada has been enjoying will increase dramatically, where people will come here to smoke pot, they'll come here to get married, they'll come here just because it's a great place.

"It's going to be great for the Canadian economy."

As a nation, we pout. They pot. Massachusetts has gay marriage. The majority of U.S. ducks its heads between its legs.

His film documents changes from pot and marriage laws after June 10th. Nerenberg says doing it made him love Canada. He told Wyatt:
"I really started to see why Canada very much is a great country. I even felt some warmth toward people who may not be in the same political spectrum as me. Even the anti-same sex marriage people I found in Canada were reasonable.

"They weren't insane, they weren't hysterical. They had their point of view and wanted to express it. It made me feel good about the country that even the people on the very edges of the different extremes were reasonable."

No comments: