File Photo One of the groups which campaigned for marriage equality says a radio competition asking two straight friends to get married is “insulting”. LegaliseLove Aotearoa says The Edge competition attacks the legitimacy of same-sex marriages. “The Edge can dress it up in whatever language they like; the point of this competition is that men marrying each other is still something they think is worth having a laugh at,” says LegaliseLove Wellington Co-Chair Joseph Habgood. “It speaks to the endemic nature of prejudice that the same radio station can hold the first same-sex marriages in New Zealand history one year, and fire off silly little pot-shots like this the next.” Habgood believes The Edge has done some great work promoting social justice and equality in the past, but says that doesn’t give the station licence to ridicule the people they try to help. “Maybe on the day that statistics around mental health for lgbti people are better, when high schools are safe places for lgbti youth, we can look back on all this and laugh; but competitions like this don’t bring that day any closer.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 20th August 2014 - 4:51pm