“Unmarriage until gay marriage, no marriage until gay marriage.”
That is the phrase that will chime through the streets, Feb 14th in central park. Rev. Billy and his gospel choir are at it again. This time they are inviting married couples to unmarry. Ditch the vows. Shed the rings. No marriage until all can marry.
A mass ceremony, conducted by Rev. Billy himself, will unmarry those who are standing up for the rights of the gay community. Is this really official? I don’t know if you can actually unmarry, but who says you are married anyways? Or what defines marriage since it varies from culture to culture and religion to religion? It seems unconvincing that by a simple ceremony you are deemed fit to cohabit until death, produce offspring, receive certain tax breaks and share toothpaste.
My cousin and her partner are sincerely committed to each other, have lived together for ten years and have never participated in any sort of ceremony that declares them legally married. Then there are those who have grand ceremonies declaring their commitment and love for each other and they don’t make it past raised toilette seats and maxed-out visa cards. If a ceremony is so trivial in both these instances why is it being withheld from same-sex couples?
Unlike Canada, there are still states in our neighbor country where gay marriage is illegal. For details about same-sex marriage in the U.S. see here. Same-sex marriage has been legal everywhere in Canada since July, 2005.
I don’t know what I think of the whole thing as you can see from the scads of question marks. If you are like me and have more questions than answers you can check out freedomtomarry.org and see what questions they are answering. – megan kamei, editorial assistant
I asked Aiden what his thoughts were and here is what he said:
I like the references to your cousin and other attitudes to the marriage ceremony, but I’m left with the feeling that you think it’s just a ceremony and not a powerful institution of control: of men over women, of dominant culture over those who don’t choose partners of the opposite sex. I look at how institutions attain, retain and abuse power. In the case of the institution of marriage, it’s a very tangible expression of the “family values” that are so problematic for many people. Feminists, women who suffer, singles, childless couples, men who don’t identify as heterosexual, young people who are dating: each of these (and other) important groups of people are invited (often coerced) into conformity, at the cost of their humanity and the loss of diversity in our community. – Aiden Enns, editor
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