Video: Dan Savage says marriage is already ‘about love, not gender’
Author, columnist and founder of the ‘It Gets Better Project’ Dan Savage has rejected arguments that gay people are seeking to ‘redefine marriage’, saying it has already effectively gender-neutral.
In a video recorded for the Out4Marriage campaign he says marriage is “no longer a gendered institution”.
Savage is the latest public figure to record a video for the campaign, stating it is “really important that all people join the struggle for marriage equality for all couples”.
In his video Savage challenges one of the arguments the Church of England has deployed that equal marriage will ‘redefine the institution of marriage’.
He says: “Gay and lesbian people, same sex couples for too long have been discriminated against under the law when it comes to rights as couples, rights as people in love. One of the arguments against same-sex marriage rights is that we are seeking to redefine the institution of marriage and that is not true.
“It is straight people who redefined the institution of marriage. Marriage is the legal union of two equal and autonomous individuals. Marriage can be monogamous, or not; it can be for life, or not; a married couple can have children, or not; they can have a religious ceremony, or not. Marriage is no longer a gendered institution, it’s about two people in love.”
He continues: “So long as we’re willing to accept civil unions and so long as society is willing, what’s being communicated to gay and lesbian people is that our love is not is lesser than, that there’s something deficient about who we are and that our love isn’t the same as the love of heterosexuals and we know that is a lie.”
“So we’re fighting for full civil equality, for full recognition of our relationships and what they mean and what they are, for protections under law for our families, for our children and that’s why I’m Out4Marriage and I encourage everyone in the United Kingdom and every country on earth to come Out4Marriage.”
The It Gets Better Project, created in 2010 and to reassure young gay, bi and transgender people has become a worldwide phenomenon with over 50,000 user-created videos viewed over 50 million times.
Modelled on the It Gets Better Project, Out4Marriage began collecting videos from politicians, celebrities business and religious leaders and members of the public earlier this year.
In recent weeks Out4Marriage has received backing from high profile supporters including senior politicians from all parties including Nick Clegg, Theresa May, and Ed Balls, as well as their Cabinet, Shadow Cabinet and back bench colleagues.
They join celebrities such as Sir Richard Branson, The Saturdays, Paloma Faith and Sinitta alongside members of the public, whose videos the campaign is receiving daily.
