New Zealand: Radio station condemned for ‘homophobic’ straight same-sex wedding stunt
A New Zealand radio station has been condemned for a stunt in which two straight men will get legally married in exchange for rugby tickets.
The ‘Love You Man’ stunt, run by station The Edge, will see teacher Matt McCormick, 24, marry engineering student Travis McIntos, 23.
The Dundein-based pair are set to get legally married later this week – despite being straight – in exchange for tickets to next year’s Rugby World Cup in England.
Advocates of marriage equality, which only became law in the country last August, have decried the stunt as homophobic, and mocking the importance of same-sex marriage.
The Legalise Love campaign told GayNZ: “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.”
Activist Louisa Wall added that the stunt “is making a mockery of the institution of marriage.”
She said: “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.”
The friends are set to marry in New Eden Park rugby stadium on Friday, September 12.
The station previously ran a competition to throw for a genuine wedding for a same-sex couple, after marriage equality came into effect.
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