"It's absolutely essential that we have the same safeguards that straight couples do. But I want more than a 50 percent chance of success. I don't want to emulate that"
About this Quote
George Michael threads a line between two powerful impulses: the demand for equal rights and the refusal to settle for imperfect models of intimacy. The call for the same safeguards as straight couples points to concrete legal protections that historically excluded LGBTQ people: inheritance, hospital visitation, parental rights, immigration, and the everyday security that marriage confers. Those safeguards matter because they stabilize lives. Yet he refuses the notion that equality must mean copying a system whose outcomes, symbolized by the oft-cited 50 percent divorce rate, are not especially enviable.
The remark lands in the early 2000s debate over marriage equality and civil partnerships, especially in the UK as the Civil Partnership Act took effect. Michael, publicly partnered with Kenny Goss for years, often faced questions about whether he would marry. His response suggests a deeper critique than simple reluctance. Liberation, for him, was not just access to an institution but the freedom to redefine how commitment works. He had already challenged public shame and secrecy after being outed in 1998, turning scandal into candor and art. That posture extends here: take the legal rights, but do not import the cultural scripts that produce so much disappointment.
The line refuses both conservative scolding and assimilationist comfort. He is not rejecting commitment; he is asking for a better standard. Success might be measured by honesty, negotiated boundaries, care, and durability under pressure rather than by conformity to a single template. Queer communities, forged through hardship, have often innovated relationship models that are adaptive and truthful; Michael insists that equality should unlock that creativity rather than domesticate it.
The ambition is elegant: justice as a floor, not a ceiling. Secure the safeguards that protect dignity and property, then build something stronger and more humane than the default. Embrace parity without reproducing the failures parity exposes.
The remark lands in the early 2000s debate over marriage equality and civil partnerships, especially in the UK as the Civil Partnership Act took effect. Michael, publicly partnered with Kenny Goss for years, often faced questions about whether he would marry. His response suggests a deeper critique than simple reluctance. Liberation, for him, was not just access to an institution but the freedom to redefine how commitment works. He had already challenged public shame and secrecy after being outed in 1998, turning scandal into candor and art. That posture extends here: take the legal rights, but do not import the cultural scripts that produce so much disappointment.
The line refuses both conservative scolding and assimilationist comfort. He is not rejecting commitment; he is asking for a better standard. Success might be measured by honesty, negotiated boundaries, care, and durability under pressure rather than by conformity to a single template. Queer communities, forged through hardship, have often innovated relationship models that are adaptive and truthful; Michael insists that equality should unlock that creativity rather than domesticate it.
The ambition is elegant: justice as a floor, not a ceiling. Secure the safeguards that protect dignity and property, then build something stronger and more humane than the default. Embrace parity without reproducing the failures parity exposes.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
|---|
More Quotes by George
Add to List
