Gay rights advocates are upset about two heterosexual men marrying to win a contest, because they say it trivializes the right to marry they’ve worked so hard for.
Travis McIntosh, 23, and Matt McCormick, 24, have married so they can go in an all-expenses trip to the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, reported the Otago Daily Times. They competed with other straight male friends for the honor in a “bro-mance” contest held by a New Zealand radio station “The Edge.”
“It’s just seeing how far two good mates would go to win a trip to the Rugby World Cup,” McIntosh told an Australian newspaper.
But some gay-rights activists do not approve of the marriage. “Something like this trivializes what we fought for,” a university student who coordinates a queer support association told the Otago Daily Times, because it perpetuates the idea that two men marrying is “something outrageous that you’d never consider.”
Gay right’s group LegaliseLove co-chairman Joseph Habgood concurred. “The point of this competition is that men marrying each other is still something they think is worth having a laugh at.”
“Maybe on the day that statistics around mental health for LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) people are better, when high schools are safe places for LGBTI youth, we can look back on all this and laugh,” he added. “But competitions like this don’t bring that day any closer.”
McIntosh and McCormick insist they’re not trying to offend anyone, and are simply following their “own path.”
“Matt and Travis, or Mattress as I have affectionately named them, are great guys,” Dom Harvey, from “The Edge” said, according to The Daily Telegraph. “They are excited about next year’s trip to London but are just as pumped about their big day. It’s not going to be your traditional wedding. In fact, this may be the first wedding in history where the newlyweds will try to crack onto the guests.”
Otago Daily News reports that the couple has not decided whether to hyphenate their last names, but has decided their wedding song will be “Crusin'” by Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Both families are “100 percent” behind the marriage, and McIntosh and McCormick said they expect the marriage to last at least two years. “The Edge” tweeted pictures of the wedding, including this one of the couple cutting the cake.
Awww the traditional cutting of the cake! Isn’t it an awesome cake?! #LoveYouMan pic.twitter.com/PODqf5taWU
— The Edge (@TheEdgeNZ) September 11, 2014