Straight people defiling the institution of marriage, Episode 857.
Some call it “holy matrimony,” some “civil marriage,” but whatever you name it, the oath is “’til death do we part.” Unless you’re Kim Kardashian, Britney Spears, Dennis Rodman, the contestants (probably) on the U.S. reality TV show “Married at First Sight,” or a couple of twenty-something straight dudes who wanted to win Rugby tickets.
New Zealand pop radio and TV station The Edge has awarded Travis McIntosh and Matt McCormick the grand prize in its mockingly homophobic “Love You Man” contest: a trip for two same-sex married straight men to attend the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England next year. Yes, the contestants have to be straight but in a same-sex marriage.
And these “best mates,” McIntosh, 23, and McCormick, 24, say they’re straight. They will marry Friday morning to fulfill the rules of the contest, sanctity of marriage be damned.
”We are not here to insult anyone,” McCormick told the Otago Daily Times. “We are here to do our own thing and travel our own path.”
The couple, friends since they were five and six, insist they’re not mocking anyone, or the institution of marriage.
“It’s just seeing how far two good mates would go to win a trip to the Rugby World Cup,” says McIntosh, who believes the couple’s marriage will last at least two years. ”We picked up our wedding certificate and the nerves are starting to really hit home.”
In fact, The Edge advertised their contest as “the first one that we know will end in divorce.”
Same-sex marriage became legal in New Zealand in August 2013.
“The Edge can dress it up in whatever language they like,” Legalise Love told GayNZ, “the point of this competition is that men marrying each other is still something they think is worth having a laugh at.”
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Otago University Students’ Association Queer Support co-ordinator Neill Ballantyne, of Dunedin, says “the wedding is an ‘insult’ because marriage equality was a ‘hard fought’ battle for gay people,” the Otago Daily Times reports. “Something like this trivialises what we fought for,” Ballantyne adds.
The competition promoted the marriage of two men as something negative, ”as something outrageous that you’d never consider”, Mr Ballantyne said.
The couple will marry in a live-streaming ceremony Friday at 7:00 AM local New Zealand time (3:00 PM EDT Thursday).
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