Two men married this week in New
Zealand not for love but for tickets to the Rugby World Cup.
The men, heterosexual best friends
Travis McIntosh and Matt McCormick, tied the knot on Friday at Eden
Park stadium in Auckland, New Zealand before a crowd of roughly 60
people.
The ceremony was part of radio station
The Edge's “Love You Man” contest. More than 200 “bromances”
entered for a chance to win tickets to the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
The stunt drew criticism from
conservatives and gay rights activists alike, The
Canberra Times reported.
“This is two straight men who have
done a wonderful job of trivializing marriage on their own,” said
Shelly Argent, a spokesperson for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and
Gays (PFLAG). “I hope it takes them quite a while to get the
marriage annulled.”
“This competition makes a mockery of
marriage, but so did the redefinition of marriage,” said Bob
McCoskrie of the conservative group Family First. He described
marriage equality as “an arrogant act of cultural vandalism.”
McCormick, 24, told the Otago Daily
Times that he and McIntosh, 23, were “not here to insult
anyone.”
New Zealand lawmakers last year
approved a law allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.