[00:15.62]The latest census in the UK
[00:21.19]has confirmed that inter-racial mariages are increasingly common,
[00:27.22]leading many journalists to claim that we are a totally tolerant society.
[00:33.25]However,despite what the census might suggest,
[00:39.00]the truth is that the vast majority of us tend to eventually marry a partner
[00:45.66]not only of the same race,
[00:49.50]but also of the same religion,class,age and background.
[00:55.56]While mixed of various descriptions may be on the increase,
[01:02.04]prejudice and social and family pressures are still very much alive,
[01:08.88]and love cannot always overcome them.
[01:13.56]We talked to two couples about their experiences.
[01:19.20]A religious divide
[01:23.85]Rachel McCarthy and David Brown decided to leave Belfast,
[01:31.12]the city in Northern Ireland that they both grew up in
[01:36.16]and where their parents still live,
[01:40.21]when they got married last year.
[01:44.05]Rachel is a Catholic and David is Protestant.
[01:50.21]The two halves of the christian religion are still deeply divided in Northern Ireland,
[01:57.34]and although the bombing and killing which occurred between the two communities has largely stopped,
[02:04.79]as Rachel and David know,
[02:08.34]people in mixed marriages are often ostracised and verbally abused.
[02:14.58]’We actually found it difficult to find a place to live in Belfast
[02:22.03]because areas tend to be either Catholic or Protestant.
[02:27.49]That’s really why we left.
[02:31.54]Over here,we just look the same as everyone else and no one really knows
[02:37.70]-or cares-that we have different backgrounds.
[02:42.17]It has been very difficult,though,
[02:46.90]because we haven’t had any support from our families.
[02:51.44]Neither sets of parents have really come to terms with out relationship
[02:57.32]and that’s obviously been very painful.’
[03:01.76]The age gap
[03:07.32]Jamie Brodlin is twenty now and has been going out with his partner,
[03:13.70]Jane Fisher,for three years.
[03:17.46]Believe it or not,Jane has just turned sixty!
[03:23.31]They met when Jamie was out clubbing with three friends.
[03:29.06]Jane was working in the cloakroom
[03:33.32]and when Jamie came up to her and started chatting her up,
[03:38.49]she thought he was pulling her leg.
[03:42.15]’I thought he was just some lad with too many beers inside him
[03:47.79]who was doing it all for a bet.
[03:51.63]It was only later when he phoned me up to ask me out on a date,
[03:56.70]I realised just how mature and sensible he really is.’
[04:01.84]Jamie says:’To be honest,I never have gone for girls my own age.
[04:09.70]I tend to find them a bit immature.
[04:14.07]They usually just want to talk about music and shopping,
[04:19.34]whereas you can have a proper conversation with someonw who’s older.
[04:24.70]I guess Jane was quite a bit older than my previous girlfriend,
[04:30.55]but there was just something about her and about the way she moved
[04:36.19]and hung up the coats that caught my eye.
[04:40.56]She’s a very warm and appealing sort of woman.
[04:45.60]My mates did think it was a bit weird,
[04:50.14]but I just told them it’s none of their business,
[04:54.69]and now they don’t really ask about Jane.
[04:59.23]Jane often stays in with my parents when I go out clubbing.
[05:05.48]She says she’s too old for that kind of thing these days,which is fine.
[05:11.85]I was worried that my parents wouldn’t approve of her
[05:17.20]when I first broke the news to them,
[05:21.15]but they’ve been fantastic.
[05:24.99]They found it a bit difficult to accept I was in love with someone old enough to be my gran,
[05:32.12]but when they met her,they just got on really well.
[05:37.58]I don’t know if we’ll ever get married.
[05:41.73]We’ll see.We haven’t really talked about it.’
