A man can be a “wife” and a woman can be a “husband,” the UK government
has decided, overruling the Oxford English Dictionary and effectively
putting an end to the traditional meanings of the words for marriage
partners.
The move has been denounced as the vocabulary of “cloud cuckoo land” and
“gobbledegook” by critics who believe that the terms ‘husband’ and
‘wife’ should have their traditional meanings preserved.
Updated explanatory notes in The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill being
considered by the government is causing it to have to redefine the two
terms, “clarifying” what it means.
“‘Husband’ here will include a man or a woman in a same sex marriage, as
well as a man married to a woman. In a similar way, “wife” will include
a woman married to another woman or a man married to a man,” says the
new footnote.
However, the traditional male-only meaning of husband and female-only
understanding of wife could return in some cases – to “ensure that
gender-specific terms such as ‘husband’ keep their gender-specific
effect.”
“The term ‘husband’ will in future legislation include a man who is
married to another man (but not a woman in a marriage with another
woman); and ‘wife’ will include a woman who is married to another woman
(but not a man married to another man) unless specific alternative
provision is made,” declares the drafted legislation.
Critics stated that they had anticipated the legal confusion the
government would run into while trying to eliminate ‘gender
specific’ terms, which have to be introduced as the UK tries to
establish gay marriage laws, meaning marriage terms will be
‘outdated.’
“We always knew the government would tie itself in knots
trying to redefine marriage, and this shows what a ridiculous
mess they’ve created,” a spokesperson for the Coalition for
Marriage, which campaigns against the change, told the Telegraph.
“This mangling of the English language shows what happens when
politicians meddle with marriage. They’re in cloud cuckoo
land,” they said.
Debates over the new definition also sparked irritation before a
final decision was made.
“It sounds not merely like gobbledegook but the reversal of the
natural and normal meaning of words,” said Lord Tebbit in
Parliament.
Parallels have been drawn in the British media with a recent
example of Spain. The socialist government introduced gay
marriage in 2005, when it was announced that the following year
Spanish Birth certificates would read ‘Progenitor A’ and
‘Progenitor B’ instead of ‘mother’ and ‘father,’ in a move termed
‘Orwellian’ by UK officials.
The practice of gender nonspecific terms has spread far beyond
Europe: Ambiguously gendered people were given the option in 2011
of listing their gender on passport applications as ‘X’.
Source: RT.com
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