Woman Slammed Over Plans To Wear 'Insulting' Dress to Gay Wedding

A wedding guest has been urged to reconsider her choice of outfit for the upcoming nuptials after the details of what she plans to wear went viral.

In a post shared to Reddit's "Am I The A**hole?" subreddit, which has earned over 28,000 upvotes, a man writing under the username harleygfproblem explained that his girlfriend Nat has a "very particular sense of style."

"Sometimes she likes to incorporate memes into her clothes," he wrote. "No problem. It's cute." The issues only arose when he learned she was planning on wearing a dress inspired by the meme "gay rat wedding" to an actual gay wedding.

According to Daily Dot, the "gay rat wedding" meme related back to a 2019 episode of the PBS kids' television show Arthur, in which the eponymous character's teacher, Mr. Ratburn, married his boyfriend.

It was subsequently reported that TV stations in Alabama would not be airing the "gay rat wedding" episode in a development that prompted a deluge of viral memes on the topic.

Nearly three years on, internet enthusiast Nat "wants to wear a dress inspired by the meme"—and it sounds eye-catching to say the least.

"The dress in question would be full of little stuffed rats, pride flags and a big 'I SUPPORT GAY RATS' on the front," her boyfriend wrote.

He has already been warned by one friend that the dress could cause "uproar" but when he tried to challenge Nat on her choice of outfit she got "upset" and accused him of "throwing water in her flame of creativity."

However, with a month to go until the big day, many on Reddit are sounding similar warnings while also criticizing the woman for trying to steal the focus away from her friends' big day.

Nelashana commented: "That's very inappropriate for a wedding. Not to mention, kinda insulting." JuryNo7670 added: "It completely makes her the center of attention when it should be about the couple."

GoodGirlsGrace also felt the choice of meme could easily be construed as "insulting" by the happy couple who could view the woman's dress as her attempt at "discreetly signaling to the grooms that she disapproved of them, without being called out as homophobic." Alternatively, they warned the grooms could see it as her saying "she sees them as rats, which is degrading to not just them but gay people in general."

Curious-One4595, meanwhile, noted: "Not every same-sex couple wants their wedding to look like a pride parade. She needs to read the room." Stumblios summed up the thoughts of many, writing: "Basically everyone at the wedding, other than the bride and groom, should be fairly forgettable. Look nice (which I think rules out rat dresses) and don't try to steal any attention (also rules out rat dresses, for a second time)."

In a further update, the original poster has since confirmed that he spoke to one of the grooms who described the situation as "hilarious" but warned that if she did show up with her boyfriend to the wedding in a rat dress he would "kick us to the curb."

Newsweek has reached out to the original poster for comment.

According to statistics collated by the Pew Research Center, Americans are, in the majority, broadly in favor of same-sex marriage. Figures compiled in 2019 show that 79 percent of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated are in favor of same-sex marriage. Meanwhile 66 percent of white mainline Protestants and 61 percent of Catholics are also in favor of gay marriage.

Though the research found just 29 percent of white evangelical Protestants were in favor, this marked an increase from the 15 percent polled in 2009.

Dresses remain a source of much contention when it comes to weddings.

In December 2021, a woman earned the backing of the internet after refusing to give her wedding dress to her ex's new partner.

Earlier that month, a man garnered criticism on social media when it emerged he had used his wife's savings to pay for his sister's wedding dress.