Hey, headline writers, did you know that if a dude marries another dude and one of them is newsworthy because he’s a governor, you can just refer to the second dude as the governor’s “husband”? Just as you would if the governor were a woman married to a man? That’s totally a legit use of the word!
The problem is obviously the thin line between saying something weird like “Colorado Governor And Gay Husband Have Covid“ and something that makes the causal reader form other places think the governor is a woman like “Governor And Husband Have Covid“.
You can go with the overly explicit and say “Male Governor and Husband Have Covid“, but at least it sounds just very weird but it doesn’t sound potentially disparaging in the way a “Gay Has Covid“ sounds. And the male/gay part is not news. The coronavirus is the news.
“Partner” sounds kind of like they are not married, but very likely gay. “Spouse“ sounds like they are maybe not gay, but definitely married. “First gentleman“ covers all bases but is clunky. “Governor and husband“ as discussed, might lead some people to think the governor is a woman.
(In my own country/language, referring to the equivalent of your “partner“ as a straight person has the implicature that you’re a hippie who is opposed to the church/state/institution of marriage on principle, but you’re boring and monogamous in practice, and probably raise 2.3 children)
Clearly, “Colorado Governor and Gay Husband Have Covid“ is preferable to “Gay Colorado Governor And Husband Have Covid“, but “Colorado Governor Jared Polis, his Husband Have Covid“ implies the same, and it also normalises gay marriage better.
At this point I looked up the Fox News headline (no mention of the partner in the headline) and Jared Polis on Wikipedia, and I found the missing puzzle piece. The Governor and his live-in boyfriend who raise two children together are technically not married.
So anyway, this post would have gotten a lot more notes if it was an impassioned defence of “Governor And His First Lady (male) Have Covid“.
I would have hoped that the clunkiness of saying “first gentleman” would clue people in to the stupidity of saying “first lady”, but no.
i remember when Sarah Palin was running for VP and people kept suggesting calling her husband the First Dude
yes
FIRST Dude.
real question is who will be the last dude
by being least married to the Governor I will become…
