In response to the ever-revolving media circus on politics this week, our artistic director has a quick message for those concerned by the claims of Gerald Howarth and co…
Hysteria is a word derived from the ancient Greek term for the womb. They believed that it wandered the body and that once a month it latched on to a woman’s brain and produced all kinds of dangerously irrational behaviour. This bizarre medical belief was one of the reasons women in ancient Greece were denied power and much of their liberty. Nowadays, it is ironically the absurdity of its origins that makes ‘hysteria’ so applicable to the kind of arguments being drawn upon by those opposing same-sex marriage in this latest round of bickering over the proposed law.
The bill passed its third reading on Tuesday and was surrounded by intense media debate, much as it was back in February, but has since been eclipsed by the violent events in Woolwich yesterday. Tragic and alarming, the so-called ‘terrorist’ attack has put into perspective the same-sex marriage row. Despite the fact that a common argument against the bill has been that it is not important enough to waste time on, many of those using that line seem to be doing just that.
The fact of the matter is that it is an issue that that affects a comparatively small proportion of the English and Welsh populations – but this does not make it any less unequivocally right. The bill is about equality. In every other instance in recent history where basic human equality has been at stake – the abolition of slavery, the civil rights and suffragist movements, even the path to legalising homosexuality – we have looked back to find only astonishment that there was resistance to these struggles for a fair and tolerant society in the first place, because now the obviousness of their necessity is clear, and all the doom-mongering of the opposition has proved incontrovertibly false. The events in Woolwich suggest we have more pressing issues to be concerned about in Britain today, so perhaps now it is time that we should re-focus. The bill will allow for happiness and has been specially prepared so as to safeguard against infringement on religious belief. The claims from the likes of Gerald Howarth, therefore, that the same-sex marriage bill is part of an ‘aggressive’ gay agenda and that something more sinister is on its way will soon prove themselves to be nothing more than vapid hysteria.
