ARTIST / ACTIVIST  REVEREND BILLY  held an “unmarriage until gay marriage” ceremony
at Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain on this past Sunday.

(Under the stage name of Bill Talen, REVEREND  BILLY uses  the form of a revival meeting, on sidewalks and in chain stores, Reverend Billy and his gospel choir exhort consumers to abandon the products of large corporations and mass media; the group also preaches a broader message of economic justice, environmental protection, and anti-militarism, protesting sweatshops and the Iraq War. Though it continues its street theatre activities, the Church has also appeared on stage and has toured internationally.)

The good Reverend held church in Central Park on Valentines Day  – straight couples reversed their vows in solidarity with the same sex marriage movement.  We could not be there, but the Village Voice said, “The happy twosomes — some married, some in long-term relationships — arranged themselves before a floral trellis. The theatrical activist and former mayoral candidate, who typically preaches an anti-consumerist gospel, then stepped forward to take a rather slushy pulpit, officiating the Valentine’s Day mass “unwedding.”

Clutching unmarriage certificates, couples said they would continue to fight for their gay and lesbian friends, whose enduring relationships lack the legal benefits that they enjoy. “After today, I’m just going back to Young,” joked Georgina Young-Ellis, who unmarried her husband Jonathan of 22-years.