The passage of California’s Proposition 8, re-banning same-sex marriage, has inspired a variety of responses from music’s out gays. While most have reacted with anger, some even threatening to withhold taxes, Sir Elton John is more practical. Gays and lesbians have often made peace with our lack of marriage rights by rejecting the institution itself, and John has taken this side, blaming Prop 8’s win on “the word marriage” freaking people out:
“What is wrong with Proposition 8 is that they went for marriage… I don’t want to be married. I’m very happy with a civil partnership. If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership,” said John. “The word marriage, I think, puts a lot of people off. You get the same equal rights that we do when we have a civil partnership. Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships.”
Okay, Elton, let me introduce you to Tegan & Sara.
The Canadian rockers have written a pair of columns for Spinner.com that bring up something John may have forgotten: actual human emotions. Tegan’s essay looked at the plain unfairness of the current fight over gay rights, observing how her new relationship was changed by “spending most of my time focusing on… the hatred and judgment some people feel.” Sara’s was even more straightforward, pointing out that she just loves weddings:
My parents’ wedding photos were my favorite when I was a kid. They divorced when I was five, but I loved the way my mom looked, her dress spread out around her on the lawn of my grandparents’ funny brown bungalow. My dad, his hair full of ringlets and his unruly beard, standing with the wedding party, not wearing socks in his shoes. I didn’t understand marriage but I loved the ceremony of it. I was sad that my parents’ marriage dissolved. I was romantic and I wondered if one day I would have children staring at photos of me on my wedding day. I still do. It’s what I want for my life. Marriage, love, kids, strange outfits, and awkward photos of cakes being cut and books being signed. … I want the right to choose that ceremony for my life.
I see where you’re coming from, Elton, but Sara, I think you win this round, and for that, you get an embedded video.
Tegan & Sara – “Walking With a Ghost”
Photos used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr users Joanna Kiyone and r. rosenberger.
