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Debunked: A photo of a split bride/groom costume isn't an Irish person who ‘married themself’

A fancy-dress costume has been used to mislead.

CLAIMS THAT A person in Dublin had legally married themselves are untrue, despite massive views online.

A photo accompanying the claim, which features a person whose left side wears a wedding dress, while, split straight down the middle, their right side is dressed in a traditional groom’s suit, is old.

There is no evidence that it is from Ireland or shows someone attempting to marry themself.

“A Dublin trans woman has married themself in what is believed to be the first marriage of its kind in the history of the state,” text on a 26 January post on X with more than 375,600 views reads.

It goes on to give a name for the person, saying that they are from the Dublin suburb of Drimnagh, and adding: “they’re proud to be the first person in Ireland to marry themself and told reporters they hope other people will now have the courage to do the same”.

The same claims and image were also shared dozens of times on Facebook, where they racked up more than 6 million views. Many of the posts sharing the claim were partly in Russian.

The claims are wrong.

Marriage in Ireland

In Ireland, marriage is defined in the constitution. That’s why a referendum was needed in 2015 to allow marriage between same-sex couples (given that same-sex marriage is now legal in Ireland, it is unclear why this fake claim involves a trans person).

The section that was added to the constitution due to the referendum on same-sex marriage also indirectly addresses the claim of whether a person can marry themselves.

It reads: “Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.”

However, even given this “two persons” specification, there are further issues that make marriage to oneself in Ireland unfeasible.

“There would appear to be a myriad of issues in either this marriage supposedly taking place in Ireland or being recognised here if the marriage took place abroad,” Cillin O’Connell, Principal Solicitor at Summit Law told The Journal.

“Same-sex marriages are recognised here thanks to the 2015 Marriage Act, but it is clear from the outset that in Ireland a marriage needs to involve two separate individuals of either or the same sex.

“Secondly, the law in Ireland forbids a marriage taking place in circumstances where the parties are closely related by blood which could be a further impediment to this marriage taking place or being recognised.”

In other words, you may also be prohibited from marrying yourself because you are, in a sense, your own close relative.

The photo

The recent posts about a Dublin “trans woman” were not the first time that such claims have spread.

“This is Antoine Cheval, a sologamist French man who married himself after many failed relationships and love proposal rejections,” a post using the photo alleged last year.

“Man from York who married himself says he is filing for DIVORCE after he caught himself CHEATING with the next door neighbour on his own wedding anniversary,” another post with the same picture reads.

The photo appears to originate in 2018 at the latest, according to searches for earlier versions of the image using TinEye.

A version of the photo was also entered into a 2019 Halloween costume competition by someone who claimed it was their costume. The post included a second side shot of the costume.

No earlier versions of this side shot could be found, suggesting that the person who made the 2019 post had access to images of the costume that hadn’t been widely shared on the internet.

That person wrote of their submission: “I made this costume for a Side Show Costume Contest that I won!

“I got the wedding dress and men’s suit from Goodwill. I cut them apart and sewed them back together, only in half.

“Since the wedding dress was strapless I took the half of the skirt that I didn’t use and placed it over the shoulder for a sleeve.”

There is no indication that the person is trans, that they were trying to marry themself, or that they were based in Ireland.

Sideshow is a chain of figurine shops, while Goodwill is a chain of second-hand stores.

Both are primarily based in the United States and don’t appear to have outlets in Ireland, though there is a shop on Capel Street, Dublin, called The Goodwill Thrift Shop.

Costumes involving male-female splits are popular, if hard to pull off, and many examples can be found online.

The Journal’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here.

Ever wondered how disinformation spreads so rapidly – or who is behind it? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to finding good information online.

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