court did not allow the province any grace time to bring its laws in line with the ruling, making Ontario the first jurisdiction in North America to recognize same-sex marriage. The city of Toronto announced that the city clerk would begin issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples. The first same-sex couple to marry, just hours after the Court of Appeal decision, were Michael Leshner and Michael Stark, long-time advocates for marriage equality for same-sex couples who had been litigants and intervenors in various court cases addressing the issue, including the Court of Appeal decision.Leshner v. Ontario (Deputy Attorney General), 1992 CarswellOnt 928, [1992] O.J. No. 2050, 10 O.R. (3d) 732, 35 A.C.W.S. (3d) 813, 57 O.A.C. 238, 8 Admin. L.R. (2d) 132, 96 D.L.R. (4th) 41: Leshner was disciplined for advocating for reclassification within the public service to obtain benefits for his same-sex partner, on the same basis as common law partners; Ontario Divisional Court set aside the discipline decision, finding that Leshner's superior in the Ministry had been biased against him. The next day, Attorney General Norm Sterling announced that his government would comply with the ruling. The court also ruled that Kevin Bourassa and Joe Varnell, and Elaine and Anne Vautour, two same-sex couples who were married on January 14, 2001, at a wedding ceremony in the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto following an ancient common-law procedure called the reading of the banns, would be considered legally married. On September 13, 2004, the Ontario Court of Appeal declared the Divorce Act also unconstitutional for excluding same-sex marriages. It ordered same-sex marriages read into that act, permitting the plaintiffs, a lesbian couple, to divorce. British Columbia decision A ruling, quite similar to the Ontario ruling, was issued by the British Columbia Court of Appeal on July 8, 2003. Another decision in British Columbia in May of that year had required the federal government to change the law to permit same-sex marriages, Barbeau v. British Columbia. The July ruling stated that "any further delay... will result in an unequal application of the law between Ontario and British Columbia". A few hours after the announcement, Antony Porcino and Tom Graff became the first two men to be legally wed in British Columbia. Quebec decision On March 19, 2004, the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled similarly to the Ontario and British Columbia courts, upholding Hendricks and Leboeuf v. Quebec and ordering that