The case for Gay Marriage: why separate but equal isn’t equal

by Petit Fours

A straight friend once asked me why gay people needed “gay marriage” in places where they already had had civil ceremonies. The UK for example, or the  US state of Massachusetts where my friend comes from.

“You’ve got all the legal rights” she said – “so what’s the difference? Why do gay people keep pushing for the word ‘marriage’?” And why do we? It’s the same thing isn’t it? All the rights, different name – separate but equal. Why do gay people still want to get married when they can get civilly partnered?

My answer is quite simple and it involves one parallel.

The struggle for gay equality now is often compared with the black civil rights movement in the 1960s, and I’m going to make that comparison again. 50s and 60s America, as you probably know, was heavily segregated – there were black schools and white schools, black seats in the bus and white seats in the bus, black hamburger joints and white hamburger joints.

A turning for the black civil rights movement was a law case called Brown v Board of Education, 1956, which judged that that this separation was not fair and that it created inequalities.

So while you could have said: white people have schools and hamburgers and black people have schools and hamburgers – there’s no big deal with them being separate, that wasn’t what the court thought. The 1956 judgement pointed out what was wrong:

“Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court’s unanimous (9–0) decision stated that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.” (thanks wikipedia)

Because you know what? Separate but equal isn’t equal.In fact, separate can be “inherently unequal”. It was clear in the 1954 that the white schools were better than the black schools. Blacks went to black hamburger joints because they weren’t allowed into white restaurants. When things are separate they are rarely equal. Usually one is superior and one is inferior. It was pretty clear in 60s America which one was inferior – and it sparked off a mass civil rights movement to rectify it.

It’s pretty clear now too. Which has more weight and more social value? Marriage or civil partnerships?

It’s not straight marriage that’s inferior is it? No.

It’s an attitude I see reflected on the scene too – where even gay people, who are grateful for the legal recognition don’t see it as as valid a bond as a marriage. Legally civil partnerships have parity, socially and symbolically they don’t.

There are six countries in the world which treat gay marriages exactly the same as heterosexual unions. The UK performs civil unions along with France and Germany.

I think Civil Partnerships are great. I think it’s great that a person who has a chosen someone they want to spend their life with can make a committment to them, can share bank accounts, qualify for reduced tax, visit them in hospital and bring up a baby with them. Fab. I understand why Peter Tatchell and Stonewall agreed to support them when Tony Blair introduced them back in 2004. From what I understand, Tony Blair said he couldn’t get a gay marriage bill through Parliament, but that he felt he could carry civil partnerships – all the legal rights of marriage without the name.

It was the right thing to do at the time. Now, six years later – I think it’s time to start pushing for gay marriage. Reading yesterday in Salon magazine that conservative Catholic Portugal had just introduced gay marriage, it reminded me why we need to start asking for it again. The previous generation have given us this. We need to keep pushing for more.

Some people don’t want to married. That’s fine. Maybe some people didn’t want to eat burgers back in 1950s America. It’s not fair that certain things should be denied to people because of their sexuality or skin colour and even if doesn’t specially affect you, injustice does affect you and affects all society. Let’s get this show on the road.