Transferred from my old blog: The sanctity of marriage

June 7, 2004

This morning I woke up to reports that Jennifer Lopez has got married. Again. For the third time. But, if she had gone ahead with the wedding to Ben Affleck last September, that would have been four weddings. So who has she married this time? Well, it’s that womanising singer, Marc Anthony, less than a week after he got a quickie divorce from a former Miss Universe. His previous marriage ended because he had been messing around with a 23 year old girl, who recently claimed he was the father of her baby. And here's my favourite quote from the CNN article I read, "Tabloid news reports have linked Anthony and Lopez for weeks". Weeks eh? This can not bode well for a happy ending for J.Lo and Marc.

There have been all kinds of debates lately about whether the U.S. Constitution should be changed to limit a legal marriage to a union between a man and a woman, to preserve the sanctity of marriage. And I believe John Howard is trying to follow George W.'s example and change the Australian description of a legal marriage to include only heterosexual couples. Here's my question... How can anyone still talk about the sanctity of marriage, when J.Lo and Marc Anthony are allowed to enter into yet another marriage only a few months after she broke off an engagement to someone else, and merely days after he ended his previous marriage. This is what the governments are trying to endorse by taking away the rights of same-sex couples to marry. When 2 out of 3 *standard* marriages fail, how can anyone think that it is the right thing to do to ban same-sex marriage?

Perhaps putting a limit on the number of times someone can marry would be a better option. Or maybe, preventing a person from getting married within a year of a previous marriage ending. Or maybe some people just need to think a little more carefully about the significance of their actions – if one marriage fails then clearly something needs to change before their next marriage will work – and no, a change of wedding dress is not enough.

I’m not attacking everyone who has ever had a failed marriage because that would be a lot of people. And since I have never been married, I’m clearly not speaking from years of experience here. I just cling to the very un-Hollywood idea that marriage is a huge commitment based upon love, trust and partnership, not to be entered into lightly. I don’t think it is same-sex unions that are denigrating the sanctity of marriage, but serial wedders and divorcers like Jennifer Lopez.

As for the marriage of Jennifer and Marc, I give it 9 months. Any advances on 9 months?


July 13, 2004

OMG!!!!

Britney Spears is getting married for the second time this year!!! Its only 7 months since she got married to Jason Alexander, a child hood friend, and then unmarried 55 hours later. Whoa! Watch out J.Lo, someone's coming after your record of the most (and quickest) marriages ever.

There are some similarities between Britney's upcoming second marriage and J.Lo's second marriage (one...or is it two husbands ago?). The grooms are both dancers for their brides, with no celebrity status, and the bride-to be had to buy their own engagement rings.

But what shocks me the most is the fact that Britney's groom-to-be, Kevin, has a two year old child with another woman, and in one month, his second child will be born to the same woman. Does Britney not think that things might get a little complicated, and possibly she should wait just a little while before rushing into her second marriage of the year? I want to shake her!!!