About
#WhenIMarryMyself is a Twitterhashtag which spread in response to a tweet sent out by National Organization for Marriage, a group against legalizing gay marriage in the United States, which suggested legalizing gay marriage could lead to marrying yourself to become legal. The hashtag quickly became a way to make jokes about what the Twitter user would do if they married themselves.
Origin
On October 13th, 2014, the Twitter account for the National Organization for Marriage[1] sent out a tweet which asked "When #marriage is redefined, what prevents a person from “marrying” his/herself?" and included a link to an article which referenced Grace Gelder,[2] a woman who held a non-legally binding wedding ceremony for herself.
The Organization for Marriage concluded:
“When marriage is devalued and its nature loosely defined, what prevents marriage norms--such as sexual complementarity, monogamy, exclusivity, permanence, or even the idea that marriage requires two people--from being broken down as well?”
The same day Twitter user Clarknt67[4] introduced the hashtag #WhenIMarryMyself, tweeting it at the National Organization of Marriage.
Spread
Within 24 hours the hashtag was tweeted[5] out over 2,000 times. In the coming days, the hashtag was covered by several websites including NowNextNews,[6] The New Civil Rights Movement,[9] Patheos[10] and Mic.[7] According to the Twitter analytics site Topsy,[8] the hashtag received more than 2,800 mentions in the first 48 hours.
Notable Examples
Search Interest
Not available.
External References
[2]NZHerald – Woman marries herself to celebrate her ‘self-discovery’ as a single woman
[3]NomBlog – When Marriage is Redefined, What Prevents a Person from “Marrying” His/Herself?
[5]Topsy – #whenimarrymyself
[6]NewNowNext – Ridiculous Anti-Gay Tweet Spawns #WhenIMarryMyself Meme
[7]Mic – 21 #WhenIMarryMyself Tweets Prove How Desperate Same-Sex Marriage Opponents Have Become
[8]Topsy – #WhenIMarryMyself
[9]The New Civil Rights Movement – Inane Tweet From NOM Spawns #WhenIMarryMyself Meme
[10]Patheos – Absurd Anti-Gay Groups Tweet Spark #WhenIMarryMyself Twitterstorm