Straight men marry in exchange for rugby tickets on NZ radio

A radio station in New Zealand has been criticised by LGBT rights groups for running a competition which offered two straight male sports fans the chance to win tickets to the Rugby World Cup if they legally married one another.

New Zealand’s Edge FM launched the ‘Love You, Man’ competition in August, promising a pair of heterosexual listeners an all-expenses-paid trip to the UK for the Rugby World Cup next year if they agreed to tie the know live on air.

The winning pair, 23-year-old Travis McIntosh and his 24-year-old friend Matt McCormick, married in a ceremony earlier today (September 12) which was live-streamed by the radio station.

“We are not here to insult anyone. We are here to do our own thing and travel our own path. It’s just seeing how far two good mates would go to win a trip to the Rugby World Cup,” they told the New Zealand Herald afterwards.

However, several local LGBT rights groups have criticised the competition, arguing that it makes a mockery of same-sex marriage.

The chairman of the New Zealand-based Legalise Love campaign, Joseph Habgood, said:

“The point of this competition is that men marrying each other is still something they think is worth having a laugh at. Maybe on the day that statistics around mental health for LGBTI (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex) people are better, when high schools are safe places for LGBTI youth, we can look back on all this and laugh. But competitions like this don’t bring that day any closer.”

Having successfully met the obligations of the competition, winners McIntosh and McCormick are now due to travel to the UK for the Rugby World Cup in time for its kick-off on September 18 next year (2015).