As a gay male civil union supporter, I never got all that fuss about same-sex marriage. I mean, do we really want to end up like the accursed House of Windsor, only one of whose Generation X compliment has an intact spousal relationship? Do we really want to buy into highly fetishised pairbonding ceremonies involving white lace, military outfits (...) and other paraphenalia? Not me. Unfortunately, this is exactly what might happen all over again... However, I have no objection to same-sex marriage enthusiasts dressing up like that if they like, it's a free world. Anyway, back to the House of Windsor. Like many other gayboys, I get teary-eyed at the memory of the late Princess of Wales, Diana. She was a fashion icon and like the dear old Queen, she was a figure of selfless public service. When her emotional abuse stories, anorexia and bulimia experiences came out, she became a feminist figure of sorts. When she ditched her dysfunctional husband, her life almost began again, before it was tragically snuffed out. It's difficult not to feel some sense of sympathy for Chaz, though. Like us, he came out as a non-mongamous heterosexual, and this disclosure destroyed his marriage. And don't blame the Queen for his bad parenting. What about Phil the Greek? Surely he has to take some share of blame for the way that his eldest turned out. I don't begrudge Camilla and him some happiness, though. However, if he'd been honest in the first place, his first wife wouldn't have had to suffer. While Chaz does have many admirable qualities, first-time marital fidelity wasn't one of them. However, that shouldn't mean he's disinherited from the throne. (However, it does raise questions about whether or not he should be New Zealand head of state. I'm a soft republican, mainly because I respect the Queen too much to vote for one during her lifetime. I think a written constitution is more important than the relative merits of constitutional monarchy versus republican status, though. Canada has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms and still retains the monarchy, so there may well be an eventual Charles III or George VII.) Should Chaz be banished from the throne for religious incorrectitude? No, of course not. Unfortunately for the Christian Right, verbal diarrhoetic Garnet Milne thinks otherwise and lambasts Chaz for his marital infidelity and impending remarriage, before launching a distasteful sectarian attack on Anglicanism for being more popular and humane on questions of divorce and remarriage. Ah me. In the bad old days, such anti-Anglican bigotry would have had him burnt at the stake, but we live in more enlightened times. Adultery is not a crime, whatever it may mean to some as an ethical shortcoming. Chaz is a flawed character. However, Chaz and Cam deserve some happiness at their times of life, and he did have the decency to wait eight years after the death of his first wife. As for Garnet Milne, if we're talking about adultery, perhaps there's some dirty linen that involves certain New Zealand conservative Christian activists of the past that should be aired. He knows what and whom I'm talking about. He wasn't the guilty party, but if one resorts to hypocrisy and sectarian cant, one needs a sharp corrective. In contemporary New Zealand, the House of Windsor are no-one's icon or emblem of compulsory heterosexuality or discriminatory privilege for heterosexual marriage. For that reason, I find Milne's cant tiresome. Who cares if two middle-aged divorcees want to tie the knot? However, given the prominence of these two particular middle-aged British divorcees, it is amusing that the New Zealand Christian Right still carries on and on about the alleged sanctity of heterosexual marriage, especially when our future head of state is about to embark on his second try. Recommended Reading: Judith Williamson: "Royalty and Representation" in J.Williamson (ed) Consuming Passions: The Dynamics of Popular Culture: London: Marion Boyars: 1986: Annoying Wannabe Fundamentalist Media Hound Website: http://www.reformationtestimony.org.nz (Garnet Milne's new website. Yes, he has stopped being the Campaign Against Civil Unions at last. His rant is entitled "Usually the Rot Begins At the Top." (14.02.05). Craig Young - 20th February 2005