Gay rites; New Hampshire's Bishop Gene Robinson is about to enter into a civil union
In a new book the Anglican clergyman explains why he wanted to formalise his 20 year relationship. I've always wanted to be a June bride. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew there'd be trouble. I'd just delivered an hour-long lecture on the relationship between religion and public discourse, and why religious fervour over homosexuality plays such a large and negative role in the securing of full civil rights for gay people. During the question-and-answer period, someone asked me about the forthcoming civil union between me and Mark, my partner of 20 years.
Surely no one thinks that I'll don a wedding gown and wear flowers in my hair. But I suspect that a lot of people are uncomfortable with me using the word “bride†- a word associated with women as property - to describe a man. For many centuries marriage was about the transfer of property (the bride) from one man (the father) to another man (the groom), in some places accompanied by the payment of a dowry or bride price. Is calling myself a “bride†offensive because it relegates a “privileged†man to the status of a woman? I'll be the first to admit that it would have been better if I'd never uttered those eight words - not because they aren't true, but simply because they gave the conservative forces something else to use against me. It was a stupid thing to say, and I should have known better.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3833364.ece
