In an interview with W magazine, Brad Pitt discussed his strong support of same-sex marriage. Having given the anti-Proposition 8 campaign $100,000 last summer, Pitt explained to W that
"People who are against gay marriage do not understand the very freedoms that they themselves are enjoying. What if someone said, ‘Sorry, no Christianity here? No Judaism. Certainly no Mormons.’ No one would stand for that, and I wouldn’t allow anyone to say that either. I’d fight them in the same way.”
Pitt claims he and partner Angelina Jolie refuse to marry until the right to do so is afforded everyone.
Who should know better than the unmarried parents of six kids the hassle of not being married? While money--which both of them have in truckloads, of course--can provide a lot of familial security, the basic rights of both parents are not protected without marriage. Even Pitt's biological children are his only if Jolie says so and allows him onto the birth certificate. If the couple were married, any children born to Jolie would be Pitt's legal children. Same-sex couples usually must adopt each other's biological or adopted children to become both legal parents. And sometimes that option isn't even available. Pitt and Jolie have a unique understanding of this, having been through second-parent adoptions for their children who were born in places that don't allow unmarried couples to adopt together (as most U.S. jurisdictions do not, if that couple is two members of the same sex).
Brangelina are hardly ordinary folk. Like I said, their money can fill a lot of the cracks legal difficulties cause for us mortals. But I appreciate them putting their power behind the cause of standing up for those without the privilege of wealth--or the privilege to marry.
Image: wmagazine.com
