Opponents of marriage equality
often accuse same-sex marriage advocates of attempting to "redefine
marriage." Now the world's most trusted English-language dictionary is set
to do just that in order to acknowledge the reality of legalized gay marriage.
Gay Star News reports the publishers of the Oxford English
Dictionary have announced their definition of the word 'marriage' will change
to include same-sex couples. This is largely due to the fact that Britain
recently legalized gay marriage.
"We continually monitor the
words in our dictionaries, paying particular [attention] to those words whose
usage is shifting, so yes, this will happen with marriage," an Oxford
University Press spokeswoman told Gay Star News.
Currently, the online version of
the Oxford English Dictionary defines marriage as "the formal union of
a man and a woman, typically as recognized by law, by which they become husband
and wife." Beneath that definition is the following: "(in some
jurisdictions) a union between partners of the same sex."
Some LGBT advocates view the
secondary definition as discriminatory and believe that same-sex marriage
should be recognized the same as heterosexual marriage.
In Canada, where gay marriage is
also legal, the Canada Space Dictionary defines marriage as "the state of
being a married couple voluntarily joined for life (or until divorce).
In France, which also recently legalized same-sex
marriage, the dictionary of record-- Larousse-- has changed the definition of
marriage to read: "a solemn act between two same-sex or different-sex
persons, who decide to establish a union."
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