Nearly a year and a half ago, I wrote about a New Zealand radio station that made marriage the prize in a contest among three strangers. I mocked the whole thing as an indication that “marriage really is sacred”.
My contempt for that stunt is based on the simple fact that those prizewinners instantly had more legal rights than most American same-sex couples. For that matter, Britney Spears and her 55-hour marriage had more legal force behind it.
The Indianapolis Star recently ran a story about an Indiana woman who’s been married 23 times. The fact is, all 23 of those marriages, even her stunt marriage to the “most married man”, had more legal rights, protections and privileges than any same-sex couple has in Indiana (and most other US states), even if that same-sex couple has been together for decades (the Indiana woman’s longest “marriage” was her first—7 years).
I think any reasonable person would conclude that this woman is making a mockery of marriage, but the thing is, she can. Because she’s a woman marrying a man, she can get married a thousand times (one at a time, of course) if she wants to, but a same-sex couple in Indiana and most US states can’t marry even once.
So when far right christianists attack marriage equality, declaring that same-sex relationships aren’t real, and preaching that heterosexual marriage is a sacred institution, I’ll think of that radio station contest, I’ll think of Britney’s sham marriage and I’ll think of the Indiana woman. Yeah, the christianists are clearly right, and their marriage is far too sacred for same-sex couples who want to make a lifelong commitment to one person.
Apparently, marriage is too sacred for even heterosexuals.
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