Day: December 14, 2008

Gay Marriage Protests at Suspected Gay Governor’s Wedding

Trish

The protest of Gov. Charlie Crist’s (R-Fla.) wedding to glitzy just-divorced Halloween costume mogul Carole Rome went off as planned Friday. The candlelight vigil organized by Impact Florida went largely ignored in the fawning press reports on the nearly royal wedding, in which the bride wore virginal white and declared that although this would be a total of three marriages between the two of them, it’s the only one that counts. Guess that makes her two daughters whose home was recently wrecked illegitimate.

Is this what they call, “protecting marriage?”

“This is my one and only wedding in my view,” Rome said in a telephone interview. The 39-year-old New York socialite’s divorce became final earlier this year.*

43 percent of heterosexual first marriages end in separation or divorce within 15 years

The Crist-Rome wedding will go down as Florida’s highest-profile example of the biggest change in marriage mores since the mother of manners herself, Emily Post, advised second-time brides that gray was an example of appropriate dress.

That was 1922. Remarrying brides, or “encore brides,” as they’re now called, have been able to wear white and receive the blessing of society’s taste makers since the mid 1990s. They may get married in Christian churches if they are Jewish, as Rome is. They may also have big receptions and, even, feature the same attendants from their first weddings [as Rome also is]…

“Customs change, and, as long as they don’t offend people, that’s OK,” said Peggy Post, Emily’s great granddaughter-in-law, who updates the Post wedding etiquette volumes and lives in Southwest Florida…

The reason why Rome will be able to carry off a white second-wedding is that manners are defined based on how the majority of people feel about them. They are things that can be lobbied for, and the lobby is growing.

Of the 2.4 million marriages performed annually in the U.S., nearly half are remarriages, according to the census. The National Center for Health Statistics found that 43 percent of first marriages end in separation or divorce within 15 years.

And so, the white dress first worn by England’s Queen Victoria and interpreted by all as a sign of chastity, is now considered a sign of joy.

That’s joy until next time, anyway. So the question we and the protesters would like answered is, if mores change, and Jews can be married in Christian churches, and white symbolizes whatever we want it to, and half of heterosexual marriages end in divorce, and half of those heterosexual marriages are the second, third, fourth, etc. for the partners, then tell us again why can’t gay people get married too?

* Nine whole months ago, to be exact

No Wonder We Can’t Fit Into Our Old Jeans

Trish

New research on the television watching habits of Americans could shed light on the obesity epidemic. The results: we sit on our asses a lot. And by “a lot,” I mean pretty much most of the time.

Nielsen has announced the results of its second annual media consumption survey, which found that television and Internet usage continues to increase…

The measurement company said the average person in the U.S. watched 142 hours of TV a month, up 4% from last year.

The average American watches 142 hours of TV a month, up 4% from last year

People who used the Internet were online 27 hours a month, up 6%, and those who watched video on mobile phones watched three hours a month, unchanged compared with a year ago.

“Americans keep finding more time to spend with the three screens,” Nielsen vice chairperson Susan Whiting said. “TV use is at an all-time high, yet people are also using the Internet more often — 31% of which is happening simultaneously.”

But who could blame us? Between the two-year presidential campaign, the Olympics in China, watching one wheel at a time fall off of the economy, the horrific siege of Mumbai, and all the other news, there’s just a lot to keep up with. And with 4.43 million of us unemployed, what else have we got to do?