Divorce Ban Drama, Beautiful Political Theater

Marriage: it's a simple concept with some complicated baggage. Social conservatives want to "save" it, progressives want to equalize it and radicals want to dismantle it all together. Yes, despite being based on respect and love, marriage remains one of the most divisive, hateful political issues facing our nation today.

The well-worn debate over same-sex nuptials will soon get some fresh blood, thanks to activists in California who are gathering signatures to ban divorce, except in the case of fraud, abuse and bigamy. Sure, it sounds like a bit of an extravagant idea, one that takes the "marriage defending" right to task, and that's the point. In fact, the melodrama surrounding this battle may be its most important aspect.

Proponents of California's Proposition 8 insisted that they were "protecting" the sacred institution of marriage from homo interlopers. Well, in the wake of that initiative's passage, an activist named John Marcotte had a fabulous idea: create an identical initiative aimed at divorce, another plight on marriage's foundations. "Don't stop gay people from getting married," he insists. "Stop straight people from getting divorced!"

"It's a much more direct way of achieving the goal of Prop. 8." Indeed: broken and distressed homes, after all, are the right wings main target. They claim gay marriage weakens marriage, so why not wage war against the tradition's long-time nemesis? When Marcotte began his mission, it seemed silly, if not futile. Now, however, he has been given the green light to circulate a petition, which, if it reaches 700,000 signatures by spring of 2012, will land a divorce prohibition on the ballot.

Social conservatives don't have much to say about the matter. In fact, when reporters from Mercury News called the California Family Coalition, a group that led the way for Proposition 8's passage, they received no call-back. CRC's president Ron Prentice, however, has previously called the divorce plan "impractical." Actually, it's not.

Marcotte claims he has experienced an overwhelming amount of support for his effort from LGBT people. That's not surprising. As Religious Dispatches' Candace Chellew-Hodge points out, we gays have allowed straight people to dictate our love lives, so many people are chomping at the bit for the same opportunity. More than that, however, this effort's a beautiful, and easily embraced, piece of political theater.

Even if the divorce prohibition doesn't pass, this effort will no doubt garner plenty of national press. It's a clever political action and, more than that, a bit absurd, a force upon which our journalists, pundits and other assorted commentators thrive. Politics isn't simply about votes, parties or platforms. It's about putting on a show. And that's exactly what Marcotte has done.

Political theater can be quite ugly. For example, Republicans in Idaho decided to protest the Bonner County's "fiesta," instead opting for "celebration," because "English is our primary language." That was nothing but a ploy to celebrate Arizona's immigration law, and it worked. Other forms of political theater, however, can highlight the absurdity of unjust laws, something that Marcotte has achieved, and will continue to do so.

Sure, Marcotte's mission sounds spectacular, histrionic and totally out-of-this-world, which is precisely what gives this campaign so much power. Regardless of whether or not he's successful in banning California divorces, this activist has harnessed, and redirected, the recklessness of prohibitive marriage laws, and hurled it back in the right wing's face. For that, I think, he deserves a round of applause.

Photo credit: Schleuss' Flickr