celebrities say “no” to marriage
admin on Mar 27th 2007
Many celebrities are saying no to marriage. That is, until marriage is legal for gay and lesbian couples in the United States. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, as well as Charlize Therone and Stuart Townsend, have all stated that they won’t tie the knot until marriage discrimination comes to an end.
Marriage is the only currency of commitment that this country understands. In this day and age, civil unions have been getting support by such outspoken politicians as Hillary Clinton (she made her position clear at a recent Human Rights Campaign board meeting); but, it’s important to recognize that civil unions are not marriage. And separate has never been equal. It never has been and never will be.
While images of “white only” drinking fountains immediately come to mind, it is not a stretch to think of the movement for family equality in terms of a civil rights framework. Our movement, our struggle, is not an isolated one. There are lessons to be learned from history.
On May 17, 1954 the United States Supreme Court announced its decision (in Brown v. Board of Education) that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. The Supreme Court ruled that segregation violates the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution - which guarantees all citizens equal protection under the law.
Canadians for Equal Marriage invoked the civil rights frame in a powerful ad campaign. Check out this clip:
Aristotle once said, “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” Well over two thousand years later, his words still ring true.
I, for one, am glad to see that celebrities like Angelina, Brad and Charlize are using their visibility to increase awareness.
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