The first half of the highly-anticipated same-sex wedding on Channel 9‘s ‘Married At First Sight’ aired last night, and many believed that everyone would be cheering (well, everyone except for those pesky homophobes) – but this assumption may have been incorrect.
Craig Roach & Andy John, the couple who’ll finish their nuptials on tonight’s episode (it happened in New Zealand, ICYWW), have spoken out about some of the backlash they’ve received, not only from homophobes, but also from members of the LGBTQIA community.
The complainants all have similar concerns – they believe that Craig and Andy’s role in the show downplays the struggle the LGBTQIA community has gone through over decades of attempting to gain even footing to heterosexuals.
The pair spoke to The Age, with Craig saying,
“There’s been a lot of negative comments about us setting the movement back. It’s a gay wedding on Australian television – they should be rejoicing, not hating on us for doing it.I didn’t do it for marriage equality, I didn’t do it to be on TV. I did it to meet the man of my dreams.Lots of my friends have asked, ‘Why did you do this?’ I just say why not. I’ve had no luck through other platforms, all the dating apps. I was approached to be on the show, so here I am.”
Andy told the paper,
“I signed up for an experiment to find a guy I could spend the rest of my life with. I don’t think you could get through the process unless that was your intention.We were born equal, we need to be treated as such. We need marriage equality because it’s about equality. Being with the right person is much more important than a piece of paper for me.”
A lot of the criticism is based on the ‘non-legally binding’ weddings that are performed on the show – the straight couples can treat the the ceremony as nothing, really, because they know at some point they’ll be able get married for real. You’re likely to hear sentiments like “Thank god it’s not a REAL wedding!” echoed throughout the show.
But for the gay couple, a ‘faux wedding’ ceremony like one shown on the show is literally the only option available to LGBTQIA people in Australia.
But Craig and Andy are adamant that their inclusion on the popular reality television show is positive for awareness:
“It’s going to put it out to the masses, to make a lot of people more aware of gay marriage and how important it is that we have equal rights,” said Craig. “I see our wedding as a step forward towards bringing it to everyone’s attention.”
The problem with a minority group fighting to gain equality in a world that has set concrete institutions to keep them down is: not everyone is always going to agree. Despite the fact that society and entertainment reduce the LGBTQIA community down to identical clones with stereotyped characteristics, every single queer-identifying individual is a different human being with different experiences and different opinions on how to gain equality.
Abuse ain’t the way to go, though. Talking is good; so is debating – no one is above criticism. But, fighting isn’t constructive. Let’s fuck off those civil unions by being civil, ay?
At least there’s one thing the vast majority agrees on – the same-sex marriage plebiscite. Craig told The Age,
“The plebiscite is just a platform for hate speak.A year of people waving billboards with ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ – we don’t need that. It’s time for a free vote in Parliament.”
Source: The Age.
Photo: Channel 9.
