…but it’s going to be interesting to see how quickly retailers respond to gay people as a segment of the wedding market.”
With great equality comes great…inanity, courtesy of the New York Times:
Of all the outfits, Bruce was perhaps most excited by a pair of dove gray suits from Calvin Klein, which will be available at Men’s Wearhouse and tuxedo rental shops. Their appeal, aside from the less-ordinary gray, is that they come with satin lapels or piped ones. That was a good way for Mr. Kloiber and Mr. Straube to look similar but not matched. Bruce gave one partner a bow tie, the other a straight tie.
“Men’s wear is about the minutiae,” he said. “Those small details can make all the difference.” In the same vein, Mr. Jordan recommended a high-quality black suit — he likes the trim-fitting Belvest, an Italian model sold at Louis — over a poky tuxedo. One partner can wear a tuxedo shirt, the other a dress shirt, and Mr. Jordan suggested Massimo Bizzocchi ties inspired by ’30s prints. Socks, too, can be lushly different. “I do everything in my power not to match anything,” he said.
Mr. Straube and Mr. Kloiber, who have discussed getting married next year, said the gray suits were a natural fit, if not one they would have imagined. Glancing down at the suit just before he had his portrait taken, Mr. Straube said, “This says wedding to me.”
Was this the goal? To be as embarrassing and boring as everyone else? Or, were we already inherently as embarrassing and boring as everyone else; it’s just that now we’re getting more “mainstream” exposure? What does it mean that if given a choice between never being afforded equal marriage rights and never having my relationship exploited, I’d choose the former?
If marriage were about anything other than aquiring property, weddings wouldn’t exist.
Duh.
Let’s not kid ourselves: Modern state-sanctioned marriage is a bullshit economic spectacle. Marriage is to love as Christmas is to Christian values. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in unions between two people or that gays should be treated equally – but confusing rights with economy with spirituality is a really muddled way to experience the world. Marriage, as it exists now, confuses all three.
So what did we expect marriage would give us? Freedom? Nah, it’s only going to give us petty, ridiculous which-tux-do-I-want-to-spend-8,000-bucks-on musings like this.
Instead, we need to work toward understanding and realizing love. Totally different. Summed up nicely here by Emma Goldman.
“Love, the strongest and deepest element in all life, the harbinger of hope, of joy, of ecstasy; love, the defier of all laws, of all conventions; love, the freest, the most powerful moulder of human destiny; how can such an all-compelling force be synonymous with that poor little State and Church-begotten weed, marriage?” – Emma Goldman