Stop the presses! Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries get a divorce after being married for 72 days! It’s on the front page of you name it, on every news and talk show, I heard it on the radio while driving, and I can’t escape it on the Internet. This is something that has for some reason struck a cord with people.
I find it disgusting that we care more about this sex tape/reality show star’s failed marriage then we do for the countless committed gay couples who don’t have the option to have a 72 day marriage like Kim Kardashian did.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, the biggest civil rights organization that works toward gaining legal equality for LGBT Americans, only six states issue gay marriage licenses, as well as the District of Colombia, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and most recently, New York.
The state of California previously did as well until voters restricted marriage to heterosexual couples by passing proposition 8. Prop. 8 changed the state constitution to only recognize marriage as between a man and a woman.
Where are all the politicians who preach about wanting to “preserve the sanctity of marriage?” Where is the religious organization that poured millions into taking away rights from gay couples in California during the whole Prop. 8 nightmare? “Protect marriage” on every “yes on prop 8” bumper sticker, where are all the voters who voted to pass prop 8, and other anti-marriage equality laws across the country? Congratulations to them, this 72-day marriage is the “sanctity” they “protected” from gay people.
My point is this: If Kim Kardashian wants to get married for 72-days, good for her. That’s a step up from videotaping intercourse with Moesha’s little brother. On the other hand, what kind of world do we live in where this type of marriage is protected but committed same sex couples can’t get married?
The large majority of states ban gay marriage yet Britney Spears can have a quickie wedding in Las Vegas? Gay couples can’t even get married in Vegas! That’s in the state of Nevada where prostitution is legal in most of its counties, yet two dudes who are in love can’t “put a ring on it.” How upside down!
If only every publication’s cover Kim Kardashian’s divorce was on gave just as much attention to the fact that countless gay couples are in relationships that aren’t legally protected. If only every conversation around the water cooler wasn’t about Kardashian, but about how twisted it is that in 2011, we still live in a country where LGBT people are treated like second-class citizens with lesser rights. If only our Facebook posts were about how gays have to be in domestic partnerships in some states instead of marriages, just like blacks had to drink from separate water fountains than whites back in the day.
Every person who feels heterosexual relationships are somehow superior to gay relationships, and are for some reason more worthy of being labeled a “marriage,” really needs to use this example to reconsider their point of view.
Your sexual orientation has nothing to do with how much you love your partner, and how committed you are to your partner. It is up to the individual to protect the “sanctity” of their marriage, heterosexual or homosexual, and I guess I always had the dumb idea that all that took was love. Get over it!
Jack Chavdarian is a senior journalism major a contributing writer for the Daily 49er.
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