My Big Fat Gay Wedding!
Three same sex couples are to wed in a 'civil rites' event at the Clarendon Building on Thursday. The ceremony has been devised as part of OUSU's diversity week in order to protest at the lack of legal rights currently available to unmarried couples.
Wadham student James Murray explained that his reason for 'marrying' Paul Afshar, of St. John's, was primarily political: "It is very important for us to keep on pressuring the government at every opportunity." At present, no same sex couples are able to obtain the same legal protections that heterosexual couples can through marriage.
The other two couples due to take part in the ceremony are Melanie Marshall (ChCh) and Catherine Wallis (Keble), and Nancy Mendoza (Balliol) and Louise Radnovsky (Univ), but neither pair are actually dating.
Andrew Copson, OUSU VP (Welfare), defended the event as more than a mere publicity stunt, stating "the point is that all of the people taking part would, if they were able to, get married to someone of the same sex."
13th Feb 2003