Apparently it is in the name of equality. The words marriage and wedding are to be removed from register offices in the UK following the introduction of gay civil unions. Staff have been advised to change all signs to ensure equal treatment for homosexual couples opting for the new legally-binding same-sex partnerships.The Whitehall ruling will ensure that register offices carry no reference to marriage except where legally necessary. This is despite the fact that gay ceremonies are in their infancy, have yet to prove popular in the community, and account for just one in 200 register office bookings.
The 'Wedding Ceremony Room' in Bridgend, Wales, is to become simply the 'Ceremony Room' while in Liverpool its register office has taken down portraits of brides and grooms, replacing them with landscapes. Though the extension of the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples is long overdue, steps of this sort are just bizarre.
What homosexual couples want is the choice to declare their partnership officially, to reap the financial rewards, and to affirm their position as equal to the traditional bride-groom model. They do not want, and certainly do not need, to be patronised by a government too nervous to maintain familiar institutions.
Political correctness is steadily sanitising anything that may cause the slightest upset to anyone. The release of a mainstream, star-studded movie, Brokeback Mountain, about gay cowboys in love has been met with critical acclaim and handfuls of award nominations. But I am waiting patiently for the next story of a man and a woman falling in love to be pulled from screens for fear of upsetting those of a different persuasion.
Gary Roberts
Thomas L. Blair is a sociologist and political blogger on the Chronicleworld 'for creative renewal in Black Britain and Afro-Europe'. His work is honoured in the British Library's archive of "social, historic and culturally significant web-based material from the UK domain". He won top prize in the blogging competition on The-Latest.
Sumantra Maitra is a freelance journalist from Mumbai, India. He is a correspondent for All Sports magazine, and a foreign affairs blogger for the Washington Examiner. He has written articles for news website Merinews.com and other regional publications. Sumantra runs a blog at DailyWorldWatch.wordpress.com. He provided exclusive eyewitness reports for The-Latest on the Mumbai bombings of 2008.
Brian Usher is photography consultant for The-Latest.Com. He is a highly experienced editorial and commercial photographer whose work has been published throughout the world, appearing in many well known magazines and newspapers. Brian has featured in several books and has been a writer for the Royal Photographic Society magazine.
Heidi Kingstone has spent time in Afghanistan reporting for a number of publications. Her work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Spectator, The Sunday Times and other international journals. She has also reported from places like Iraq, Rwanda, Lebanon, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. Heidi is The-Latest's Editor at large.
2 Responses to "Who said 'Marriage'?"
pauwy
pauwy