Steve’s desire to marry Steve
To continue on the issue of the push to legalise same-sex “marriage” in Australia….there’s an interesting and detailed opinion piece titled, Marriage Baggage, was published on Sydney Star Observer Net (www.SSONET.com.au). It’s written by Steve Dow, one half of a devoted homosexual couple. As well as stating the practical reasons that same-sex partnerships should be able to be registered, he also writes about the “bigger picture” of “commitment and love”.
Dow writes, in narrative style, about his relationship with his partner, also named Steve. It’s a very personal account of how the couple met over 6 years ago. It’s written in a very flamoboyant style and expresses a kind of stereotypical gay, “camp” feeling:
“He’d seen me some weeks earlier, marching up and down Peel Street, preparing for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, torso exposed with fairy wings strapped to my back, a little white wrap around my butt. A Melbourne Marching Boy in miniature. Somehow, he was able to resist approaching me at that point.”
Such details seem quite irrelevant for the point he’s making, but it certainly makes for an interesting read.
He writes of his brother’s relationship with his wife, in order to make a contrast with same-sex relationships - which I thought was an interesting technique since he’s basically arguing that both types of couples should be viewed similarly under the law, and enjoy the same rights.
He also writes of gay friends tying the knot around the world - in countries that do allow for same-sex civil unions.
He weaves facts about the laws re same-sex marriage around the world, throughout his narrative of personal accounts.
He makes an interesting point - and I guess the fact that he is a gay man, writing about this gay issue, gives him a kind of authority to make generalised points about gay couples - he writes:
“Among some gay people…marriage is viewed suspiciously as a conservative tradition, the franchise’s aims of monogamy and associated social strictures at odds with long-fought lifestyle freedoms, though this view is changing: as the overseas experience shows what’s possible, suddenly the options open to others become objects of desire.”
He makes another interesting point, stating that the moral panic about same-sex marriage is that it would weaken heterosexual marriage, and comments that it’s already too late due to such high divorce rates. Even if this is an argument against same-sex marriage, I don’t think its opponents (eg. John Howard) would admit it.
This article is very different to those published in Australian newspapers, such as the Herald, on the same issue. And I guess this is mostly due to the fact that it’s written by a gay man in a gay relationship, who thus has more authority than say, a heterosexual man, writing his opinions on the issue. He has a real involvement and investment in the issue as it’s affecting his life with his partner directly.
See SOIN - Sexual Orientation Issues in the News for an interesting article about whether homosexual journalists should cover the same-sex marriage issue, and attitudes on the broader question of ‘What disqualifies a journalist from covering a story?’.
