The identical language that had been passed in 1999 was dropped at a conscience vote, with members asked to vote for or in opposition to the 1999 definition of marriage as "the union of one man and one girl to the exclusion of all others". In 1999, the House of Commons overwhelmingly handed a decision to re-affirm the definition of marriage as "the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others". Marriage, for civil functions, is the lawful union of two individuals to the exclusion of all others. In early 2003, the difficulty once once more resurfaced, and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights proceeded to undertake a formal study of similar-intercourse marriage, together with a cross-nation series of public hearings. The primary invoice to legalize identical-sex marriage was a personal member's bill tabled in the House of Commons by New Democratic MP Svend Robinson on March 25, 1998. Like most private members' bills, it didn't progress past first studying, and was reintroduced in several subsequent parliaments. On September 18, 1995, the House of Commons voted 124 to 52 to reject a motion introduced by overtly gay member of Parliament RЁ¦al MЁ¦nard calling for the authorized recognition of same-intercourse relationships.