Wedding painting 'unsuitable for gays'

[nemorathwald]

Link to an article.

A painting of a bride and groom has been removed from a register office in case it offends gay couples tying the knot.

The wedding scene, and another of Romeo and Juliet, has been ruled unsuitable for single sex civil partnership ceremonies, which start next month.

Register Officer Janet Taubman said: "We had two pictures up before. There was a picture of a groom signing the register with a young bride and the other was of Romeo and Juliet on a swing.

"They were innocent but the new paintings are less likely to offend. We are looking forward to the civil partnerships. People have been waiting a long time."

The old pictures at Liverpool Register Office have been replaced with landscapes while the Wedding Room has been renamed The Ceremony Suite.


Of course this incident is being touted as proof that gay marriage advocates want to destroy heterosexual marriage. What do you think? Was this action helpful or needed in some way, or is it totally idiotic?

Comments

[tlatoani.livejournal.com]

Just goofy. I wish people wouldn't do silly things like this, because it gives ammunition to the Christers.

[elizilla]

That's probably why they did it.

[tlatoani.livejournal.com]

You may be right.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

They could have put up a picture of a homosexual couple getting married if they really wanted to balance it out. This is a little overboard.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

I vote for "idiotic."

Substitute:

A painting of a white bride and groom has been removed from a register office in case it offends black couples tying the knot.

or

A painting of a young bride and groom has been removed from a register office in case it offends older couples tying the knot.

Jeeeeeezus!

I agree with the comment above mine that adding a diversity of pictures would have done the job without taking away some of the actual personality and warmth in the office.

[fraggedone.livejournal.com]

As a heterosexual person, I say that this decision is idiotic, but then, I don't necessarily have the opinions I would if I were gay.

Attempting to think that way, I feel I would be more offended that they took it down, citing the reason that they did.

going along the lines of what people before me said, go with a picture of a suit bending over to sign the registry, and a separate picture of a wedding dress signing a registry. No people in the outfits, just the outfits themselves.

Eh, people are stupid.

[uplinktruck.livejournal.com]

Removing the painting was pointless and idiotic. At this rate all government buildings and some public buildings will end up being painted battleship gray with nothing in the way of adornment. All employees will be dressed in neutral gray uniforms designed to present a sexual neutral image. Their hair will be covered in large hats to conceal the length and style. But of course none of this will mater because you'll never see an employee. God forbid we show a bare female face to a fundamentalist.

[mjwise.livejournal.com]

You should watch this movie (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0081036/) if you want to want to see an interesting "solution" to the fact that people are naturally different.

[uplinktruck.livejournal.com]

I'll get the book next time I'm at the bookseller.

[matt-arnold.livejournal.com]

Last year I rented the 2002 version of Lathe of Heaven starring James Caan and enjoyed it very much. From what I hear, the 1980 version was better in some ways. I'll look it up.

[drkelso.livejournal.com]

[paranthropus.livejournal.com]

I'm glad they removed it. As an alternate picture, I would suggest "sad clown" or "dogs playing poker".

Better yet, let's just ignore these pointless, incendiary news items. They only increase the amount of hatred and fear in the world. There really should be a special name for trash information like this. Giving it a label would make it easier for us to filter out.

[matt-arnold.livejournal.com]

Yes. It comes from the "where do they get these people" department, which is not an accurate depiction of reality. In that respect it's kind of like so-called reality TV, which may help inspire you to invent the label you seek. Would "Jerry Springer news items" be a good term for it? If I link you to this funny/scary pointless/incendiary mp3 sound file of that lady, it would increase the amount of hatred and fear in the world too. Oops, I just did. ;) Sorry.

[uplinktruck.livejournal.com]

You cannot ignore these things. The stupidity of the politically correct movement has to have light shown on it at every opportunity. Only when people can see some personal line crossed will they begin to understand the kind of programming that is being attempted here. It is the only way to avoid a society that makes Orwell's 1984 look good.

[wolfger.livejournal.com]

Totally idiotic. That is all.

[treebones.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd call it dumb, personally.

[brendand.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm offended. Not because there was a painting of a heterosexual marriage on the wall, but because they thought it might offend someone.

[eternalmaiden.livejournal.com]

On re-read: Didn't we (as a society) used to wait until someone expressed offense before making these kinds of decisions? Existence itself might someday offend someone, so I guess we all have to 'flash-of-light-puff-of-smoke' right NOW.