Oh my God! Breaking news. Comedian/actor Russell Brand and pop singer Katy Perry are getting a divorce. (If you'd like to read the details, the Associated Press story is here.) Actually I really don't care that much. It's just a small factoid or something that aspires to be a Trivial Pursuit question.
I'm not so high and mighty or uber-intellectual that I'd never admit that I do enjoy going through the tabloids from time to time. When they married I admit I actually found myself thinking, "How long will that last?" Which is what I think when I hear of most celebrity marriages. But then I mentally smacked my hand and wondered why I was so cynical. Maybe it was the quick courtship and engagement. Maybe it's Hollywood.
It makes me wonder, though, why some people think gay marriage is so wrong. Probably our biggest examples of marriage come from Hollywood. Or at least they steer the dress trends and get people talking. Some of those marriages are about the worst kinds of examples you could set for love and commitment, though.
Sure you have the odd Paul Newman-Joanne Woodward pairing that really lasted until death did them part (RIP, Paul), but if you're going to bet safely, bet on divorce papers being served in the next year or two.
It could be just that people with busy schedules don't have the time to connect when they need to focus on their fitness, spray tans, promotional appearances, reading the odd script, touring, and so on.
It could be, too, that these more creative types — at least some of them are — just fall more deeply in love, take the plunge, and then, being mercurial, fall out of love just as fast. Whatever. To each his own, I generally say and think.
Yet it still makes me mad that so many remain anti-gay marriage. Britney Spears can marry for something like 50 hours (to that old high school boyfriend or whatever he was). Kim Kard-ass-ian can marry for 72 days, just to name two prominent examples. Pam Anderson married Kid Rock, what, four times? How long did that one last? And all are perfectly legal.
Yet two dudes in love or two ladies who want to tie the knot is considered wrong? (And yes, I know, gay couples split up, too, just like straight folks.) But what's cheaper to the institution of marriage? A marketing extravaganza and/or a drunken weekend in Vegas vs. two people who really want to commit, even though much of society still has issues with their sexual orientations? Never mind that some people around the world and in our own nation would rather stone gays than let them pair up.
But when someone wants to wed in spite of society's condemnation, that's commitment, and that deserves to have a ring put on it.
