Jeremy Irons: Gay marriage might allow ‘fathers to marry their son’
Jeremy Irons seemed to break the usual stereotype of Hollywood liberals yesterday with an interview in which he worried that allow gay marriage might allow fathers to marry their sons.
The star of Brideshead Revisited and Die Hard with a Vengeance insisted he did not have strong views on the subject either way, but that the debate in the UK would offer lawyers a "field day".
"Could a father not marry his son?" he asked during an interview with Huffington Post.
When it was pointed out to him that incest would continue to banned regardless of the changes to same-sex relationships, he answered: "It's not incest between men.
"Incest is there to protect us from inbreeding, but men don't breed, so incest wouldn’t cover that.
"If that was so, if I wanted to pass on my estate without death duties I could marry my son and pass it on to him."
Irons also backed more popular criticisms of gay marriage from traditionalists, saying: "It seems to me that now they're fighting for the name.
"I worry that it means somehow we debase, or we change, what marriage is. I just worry about that."
He went on to insist he wished "everybody who's living with one other person the best of luck in the world, because it's fantastic.
"Living with another animal, whether it be a husband or a dog, is great.
"It's lovely to have someone to love. I don't think sex matters at all. What it's called doesn't matter at all."
Legislation on gay marriage is still making its way through parliament but is almost certain to pass.
