Marriage: out of fashion?
The picture that appeared in the global outlook column of your newspaper on June 26, 2015, cannot go without comment from Ghanaians, some of whom are likely to condemn the two octogenarians showed therein as the most perverse people they have ever seen.
Advertisement
It was the mug shot of George Harris and Jack Evans kissing passionately after they had exchanged same sex marriage vows following the five-four decision of the US Supreme Court to allow same sex marriage in all the states of the country.
A typical Ghanaian concept about marriage is purely a business of the opposite sexes and not otherwise.
Many cultures around the world also share the same view. Same sex marriage has not been common even in societies that tolerate homosexuality.
Despite all this, human beings in general have never been of the same mind about marriage, which, like other human institutions, has a long and diverse history.
Attitude to interracial marriage and same sex marriage can be a case in point.
Today a number of European and South American countries, South Africa, Canada and US states permit same sex marriage of various sorts. Marriages between races principally blacks and whites were long prohibited by law in the United States before some of them were repealed during the 1950s.
It was not until 1967 when the Supreme Court overturned the arrest of interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving that marriage was declared one of the ”basic civil right of man”.
Same sex marriage, provided recognised by law, falls under this same basic rights.
Other Trending Stories
Now questions arise whether same sex marriage could establish legal parentage of children born to one or both partners, and whether spouses could certainly give each other exclusive right to their sexuality? Can the same rights be extended to other areas such as labour and property?
Finally, there is a matter of social significance of affinity between spouses and their relatives.
The challenges posed by the above questions are going to be problematic indeed.
Right here in Ghana, there are gays and lesbians who, because of lack of legal backing, use various means such as mock weddings to declare their commitment and desire for monogamous sexual commitment, hoping that in future, there will be a legal victory in favour of their stance.
But if that happens, can the challenge posed by the social contest in which those rights are exercised be easily overcome?
Coupled with rampant report of spousal killings and high rate of divorce in the country and beyond, marriage is definitely going through a transformation and has taken a form that today’s Ghanaian is yet to recognise.
Lawrence Mantey
Institute Of Current Affairs And Diplomacy (ICAD)
lawmat2014@gmail.com