People wait for parliamentarians to vote on recognising same-sex partnerships in the square outside parliament in Valletta April 14, 2014. The Maltese parliament approved a law late on Monday to recognise same-sex partnerships on a legal par with marriage
People wait for parliamentarians to vote on recognising same-sex partnerships in the square outside parliament in Valletta April 14, 2014. Reuters/Darrin Zammit Lupi

A New Zealand radio station is being criticised for its faux same-sex marriage stunt. The Edge radio station held a contest where two heterosexual men will get legally married in exchange for rugby tickets.

The “Love You Man” contest already procured a winning pair. Teacher Matt McCormick, 24, and engineering student Travis McIntosh, 23, are best friends and are both straight males, but will legally be wed to each other at the New Eden Park rugby stadium in front of 60 family and friends on September 12, Friday.

All this just to score a trip to the Rugby World Cup in England in 2015.

Marriage equality advocates are condemning the contest and the wedding, claiming that the stunt is not only homophobic, but it is also making a mockery of the important of same-sex unions.

Legalise Love Aotearoa Wellington co-chairman Joseph Habgood slammed The Edge radio contest for allegedly attacking the legitimacy of same-sex marriages.

“The point of this competition is that men marrying each other is still something they think is worth having a laugh at,” he told Otago Daily Times. “Maybe on the day that statistics around mental health for LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex) people are better, when high schools are safe places for LGBTI youth, we can look back on all this and laugh.

“But competitions like this don’t bring that day any closer.”

Otago University Students’ Association Queer Support coordinator Neill Ballantyne added that the wedding is an “insult.”

“Something like this trivialises what we fought for,” he said.

Same-sex marriage in New Zealand became legal in August 2013.

McCormick, who knew McIntosh since he was just 6 years old, said he understands why there are people who oppose his marriage, but cleared that it was not their intention to offend anyone.

“We are not here to insult anyone. We are here to do our own thing and travel our own path,” he said.

“It’s just seeing how far two good mates would go to win a trip to the Rugby World Cup,” McIntosh added.

Both of their families are backing them “100 per cent.”

McIntosh is giving his marriage at least two years to last.

It seems The Edge couldn’t keep out of negative press these days. Earlier in September, it was bombarded with criticism as well for posting the nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence on its Web site.

According to The Daily Blog, even after receiving complaints, the radio station initially refused to take down the photos, reasoning out that “only one person has complained” about the photos after only three hours at that time.

It deleted the images after a while, but then included a link to another site where the images could still be seen. It also removed the link after some time.

Read related:
NZ Radio Station The Edge Slammed for Posting Jennifer Lawrence’s Nude Photos
Jennifer Lawrence’s Nude Photos and Videos Leaked by 4Chan Hacker

RELATED STORIES