Matt and Travis, who are straight, are getting married to win a trip to the Rugby World Cup. Two male ‘best mates’ will get married this Friday in a wedding run by a radio station so they can win a trip to the Rugby World Cup, in a competition which has been deemed “insulting”. The Edge has picked Dunedin friends, 24-year-old teacher Matt McCormick and 23-year-old engineering student Travis McIntosh, to get married. “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," The Edge host Dom Harvey says in a press release about the contest winners. The ceremony will be led by sports journalist James McOnie who says “I think this marriage will have as much chance of working out as most of the couples whose weddings I’ve MC’d...take that how you want.” The Edge lists the marriages of two same-sex couples last year among the “outrageous weddings” it has created. Legalise Love, which among the groups which campaigned for marriage equality, says the competition is insulting. “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.” Marriage equality champion Louisa Wall says two straight male friends getting married, as a joke, “is making a mockery of the institution of marriage”. She says marriage is a serious thing. “It’s about love, family and commitment. And actually, anything which diminishes the status that marriage has in our society, I think is foolish, it’s disrespectful, and I don’t support it.” Critics who said marriage equality was a mockery of the institution of marriage have remained silent about The Edge competition.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 10th September 2014 - 9:22am