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Queerly BelovedGay-Lite Weddings in the Movies If cinematic portrayals of same-sex weddings are thin on the ground, there's no shortage of "gay-lite" weddings, where the ceremony in question involves a heterosexual couple, but lesbian and gay characters are pivotal to the storyline. These films often make strong statements about marriage equality, even if queer couples don't actually tie the knot themselves. Here are some notable examples spanning the last 15 years. The Wedding Banquet (1993) Long before he made Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee directed a small-budget film called The Wedding Banquet. The wedding was a combination "fool the traditional parents back home" and green card affair that falls apart when the parents of one of the grooms, Wai-Tung Gao (Winston Chao), show up, determined to see their only son's new bride. Unfortunately, he's really living with his American lover, Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein).
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) In Four Weddings and a Funeral, the straights get the weddings and the gays get the funeral – albeit one that is pivotal to the plot and intensely moving. Matthew (John Hannah) loses his lover Gareth (Simon Callow), and eulogizes him with W. H. Auden's poem "Funeral Blues." The film ends with snapshot recaps of all the characters' future weddings, and one of them is of Matthew at his wedding to another man. In & Out (1997) Written by Paul Rudnick, In & Out starred Kevin Kline as Howard Brackett, a closeted gay teacher in a small Indiana town who is outed by a former student (Matt Dillon) in an Academy Award acceptance speech. Howard insists it's all a big mistake and proceeds with plans to marry fiancé Emily (Joan Cusack) – that is, until the media descends on his hometown and makes his life a living hell. He jilts his bride at the altar, but there's a wedding in the film's finale after all. For a minute we're teased into thinking Howard is marrying semi-cheesy TV personality Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck), but it's just his parents renewing their vows. They do play "Macho Man" at the reception, so maybe the wedding is a tiny bit gay. Imagine Me & You (2005) Imagine Me & You is a romance about two women, Rachel (Piper Perabo) and Luce (Lena Headey) who meet at Rachel's wedding to a man. There's a happy ending for the lesbian lovers, not so happy for Rachel's husband Hector, a romantic airport kiss for the two women, but no gay wedding.
Wedding Wars is a made-for-cable film about a gay event planner named Shel (John Stamos), hired to put on his brother's wedding to the governor's daughter. The governor comes out against same-sex marriage, Shel goes on strike, every gay person in America joins him, and justice is served in the end. There's lots of talk about the issues, but no gay wedding. Out at the Wedding (2007) Out at the Wedding was a little more convoluted. Set at a straight wedding, it's the story of a young woman involved in an inter-racial romance. Worried that her family won't accept her boyfriend, she brings her white gay male best friend as her date. Through a series of misunderstandings at the wedding, everyone back home gets the idea she's a lesbian.
Kiss the Bride (2008) The most recent cinematic gay-lite wedding was this year's Kiss the Bride, a sort of gay-retake on My Best Friend's Wedding. Magazine editor Matthew (Philipp Karner) gets smacked in the face with a wedding cake while checking out a photo shoot, and discovers his first love, Ryan (James O'Shea) is getting married to a woman. They haven't seen each other in ten years, but he does his best to break up the happy couple. And again, no gay wedding in sight.
Special thanks to Damon Romine of GLAAD for his assistance with this article. Submitted by on Sun, 2008-05-11 18:59. |
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thanks for this. it's both
The Roc episode..
Ah yes, I remember it well. Mostly because my jaw hit the floor and stayed there for about a week. It was a very funny and moving episode with Richard Roundtree returning to the family after being away for many years. He comes out to his brother, Charles Dutton and asks to marry the man he loves in the family home, telling Dutton how important his family is to him.
Roc is shocked,but overall deals pretty well with his brother's coming out --- until his partner turns out to be white. Roc accepts his brother being gay, but absolutely cannot deal with his being in love with a white man. It was an unexpected twist that brilliantly drove home the painful subtleties of prejudice. It was one of the best gay-related episodes ever.
Gay wedding on The Bill
I remember UK police soap The Bill had a 'gay wedding' episode between two of its police officers back on 5 January 2005. That was before the Civil Partnerships Act had gone through in the UK, so it wasn't a legal wedding, but I think the two characters signed the London Partnerships Register that had been set up in real life by former (and very gay-friendly) mayor Ken Livingstone.
It was pretty well-done, very unabashed about being completely on the side of its gay characters - and particularly progressive I think given that I would guess the show is mainly watched by straight men. You can read more about it here: http://www.tv.com/the-bill/show/1023/episode_guide.html?season=21
It could be the day of Sun Hill's first gay wedding, but PC Lance Powell has been kidnapped by two Christian friends, Hal Richards and Dennis Simpson who try and 'cure' him of his homosexuality, Lance is spotted being kidnapped on CCTV footage and they find out that the man who rented the van that Lance was pulled into lent it to Dennis, Dennis is taken in for questioning and he confesses that him and Hal kidnapped Lance. Lance is rescued and Lance and Sgt Mark Rollins finally marry.
Re Four Weddings and a Funeral - I could be wrong about this, but I didn't think we were meant to assume the clips at the end showed Matthew getting married. It looked more to me like he'd met someone at somebody else's wedding.
Four Weddings did make a point though of saying that Matthew and Gareth had been "to all intents and purposes married".
you forgot QAF
These are both mentioned, actually
Innan frosten (Before the Frost)
The Swedish cop thriller movie "Innan frosten" (Before the Frost) features a gay wedding in its climax: Toward the end of the movie a group of religious fanatics tried to blow up the church where the wedding ceremony was being held, but the cops managed to avert the threat in the nick of time.
The wedding ceremony was done in a very believable and down to earth way. It was held in a relatively small church. The church was however full of friends and relatives of the two grooms.
A part of the ceremony was shown and which involved the clergy explaining that they had all gathered to celebrate the love of these two men, and she then recounted how they met abroad (one being Swedish and the other was Spanish or Italian... sorry, I don't remember all the details).
The ceremony was then interrupted by the police informing people that they had to evacuate the building.
As people geot up and the crowd slowly started moving towards the exit, the two grooms who were still standing before the altar exchanged rings and kissed affectionately. (Or, this is at least how I remembered the scene).
The movie in question is based on a novel by Henning Mankell.
Cherry / Torchwood_Operative
Click here for an episode by episode list of Torchwood elements in "Doctor Who".
Tell it to the Marines!
afhickman
"It takes a village (to make Village People)"
An even earlier marriage occurred on film in the 1969 film "Satyricon," by Federico Fellini. In it, Martin Potter's Encolpius is married at sea to the ship's captain. Fellini said at the time that British and American actors were cast as the boys because "There are no homosexuals in Italy." Potter's biggest role since may well be his stint as Eirak on "Doctor Who," back when Peter Davison did the honors. Who would have thunk it?Just Wanna Add
More queerly..
Glad you mentioned "Doctors"! [is it because I mentioned it here a while back? :o]
I have these to add:
UK: "Casualty" (1999/2000): Adam Osman marrying Reuben Hurst (played by Pal Aron and Sam Barriscale).
Tiny clip here: www.bbc.co.uk/drama/casualty/pastseries/series15.shtml (no kiss, though!)
SPAIN (movie): "20 centímetros"
FRANCE (movie): "3 garçons, 1 fille, 2 mariages"
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R.I.P. - Heath Ledger [1979 - 2008]
Will&Grace site
Just wanted to mention this little site I enjoy(ed) for Will&Grace episodes and trivia:
www.durfee.net/will
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R.I.P. - Heath Ledger [1979 - 2008]
Common Ground
Common Ground
The Golden Girls=First Gay Wedding
When you mentioned the show Roc as featuring the first gay wedding on television, I think you might actually be mistaken about that.
The Golden Girls aired an episode called Sisters of the Bride on January 12, 1991 which had Blanche's openly gay brother Clayton getting married to another man, and I believe their wedding was depicted on the show.
Unless the episode of Roc aired sometime during the first eleven days of January, it would be the second portrayal of a gay wedding on television, not the first.
Nope
The Golden Girls
Thanks for letting me know. I saw the episode a few years ago and could have sworn they depicted the ceremony, but maybe it was only the lead-up to the ceremony. In any case, I think it definitely deserves to be included on the list as one of the first gay weddings on television, even if the viewers didn't actually see them exhange vows.
Clayton's Marriage
Well, the marriage wasn't even depicted off-screen if you know what I mean. He just told his sister it was going to happen.
The confusion may be due to the fact that Clayton and his partner are both wearing tuxes at the end of the episode because they went to charity dinner with the girls.
Hey! Where are Javier and Simon from "Felicity"?
Future epitaph: "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
One of my faves, even if the relationship hit the rocks before the end of the series. (I think they reunited, though...or did they?)Home for the Holidays