I suspect our ongoing battle of marriage equality is
going to cause more headaches so I suspect this may be the first of many posts
until it’s a done deal – and then some. So let’s hit some more tomfoolery
First of all, homophobes, pointing out the ridiculous,
archaic elements of our marriage law does not make for a good argument against
changing them. I’m bewildered as to why you’d think this was so. Specifically
the laws on consummation and adultery.
On consummation – yes, if you do not have the penis in
the vagina sex after you are married it is not consummated and can be annulled.
Yes, consummation becomes difficult to impossible for most gay couples.
And this is ridiculous. Because the whole concept of
consummation, what counts as consummation and what counts as sex is
ridiculous, heterosexist and archaic. Defining consummation this way is
akin to those purity ringed fools over in the US having anal sex and calling
themselves virgins.
Additionally – do we really want to go there? Do you
really really link marriage with a single sex act? Do you really want to
invalidate or devalue the marriages of those who don’t engage in this sex act?
Who don’t want to? Who can’t? Because I’m pretty sure you don’t want to go
there and you’re throwing a whole lot of people under the bus in an attempt to
attack us.
On adultery – which is defined as, SURPRISE, penis in the
vagina sex! If your spouse engages in any other kind of sex act with someone
else, it’s not adultery (you can still get a divorce under the rather nebulous
category of “unreasonable behaviour” however – so why adultery needs to be
singled out as a separate unreasonable behaviour is beyond me except for
archaic law).
Yeah, I call bullshit archaic law which needs changing or
scrapping AND I think that the people using this argument agree with me. No,
really. Why do I think this? Ok, say you are married, it’s not an open
marriage, you’re monogamous and you expect your spouse to be faithful and have
no nookie except with you.
Now that spouse comes to you and says “hey, I’ve been
seeing someone else. I gave them a handjob, we engaged in mutual oral sex and
then had anal sex.” Do you think “they’re cheating on me?!” or do you think
“Phew, they didn’t have penis-in-the-vagina sex so at least it’s not adultery”?
Would you be ok with them doing this? Do you think they are cheating any less?
Do you think it makes them more faithful?
These laws not fitting with marriage equality isn’t
because marriage equality is wrong, it’s because these laws are laughably
narrow and archaic.
I have to return to the liberal Anglicans again because
we have a whole shed load of them now outraged by the government not consulting
them, outraged by the government banning the Church of England performing
same-sex marriages, angry bishops declaring that they may want the option in
the future, angry vicars telling their constituents to go get married with the
Quakers and come back, angry vicars saying they’ll perform same-sex marriages
and it’s a “cause worth going to prison for”.
*checks watch* *checks calendar*
And where the hell were you?
When Sentamu and Carey and Williams and all the rest were in the papers calling us every bigoted thing imaginable, where were you?
When we needed loud angry demonstrations in the churches protesting
hate speech, where were you?
When the Church of England was presented as a solid force opposing equality, where were you?
When the Church of England was presented as a solid force opposing equality, where were you?
When bigots in the Church of Scotland were willing to break away from the church rather than support equality, why weren’t you doing the same rather than support bigotry?
You’re willing to go to gaol for marriage equality? Hah,
I doubt that, you weren’t willing to speak loudly 3 weeks ago!
What I see here is at best, a desperate attempt to leap
on the winning side after finally realising you’ve lost and, at worst, you
stamping your feet like spoiled children because the government is telling you
what to do. And I really don’t give a damn about you whining about government
interference since you’ve been quite happy sticking your bigoted nose in every
law concerning GBLT rights since legalisation
