How many times have you been to a wedding where there’s a gay guy in the bridal party or a lesbian as “best man”?
The amount of weddings I’ve attended in my day would put 27 Dresses to shame! For too long we have been the bridesmaids, never the brides, but the times they are a changing my friends!
Here we are – marriage equality has landed in Australia. It came in with a hiss and a roar on the back of what feels like months of protests, arguments, begging, counter arguments, posters saying YES in windows and pamphlets saying NO delivered to homes – but when the day came, Australians made their voices heard and finally it’s our time!
It’s time for the rainbow community to put a ring on it! We as a community will now have the opportunity to participate in something our cis friends and family have taken for granted for many years. We can now propose to our “partners”, marry them legally and if we choose, down the line, we can even divorce them!
That’s right, something as simple as divorcing a partner is not something we could ever do….it just doesn't carry the same weight saying; “I’ve broken up with my girlfriend” as saying; “My wife and I are divorcing”. My wife and I aren’t divorcing though - not as far as I know HA!
I never thought I’d get married, regardless of sexual preference. But once I met Julie, my wife, she was quite keen on getting married ‘someday’ so once it became legal in New Zealand I had to start saving for a ring pronto!
Looking back I think, of course we needed to get married, we have a mortgage, a dog, two kids and a very confusing CD collection. The stability that that piece of paper brought is quite a secure feeling that I didn’t think I’d have.