Sydney man receives death threats for taking wife's surname
A Sydney man has been flooded with death threats after he chose to take on his wife’s surname.
Grant Davis, 30, never intended to make a political statement when he changed his last name to Phillips following his wedding to long-time partner Jade, 28, in November last year.
As one of only two girls and with no male cousins, the Phillips surname looked destined to end with Jade and her sister before Grant stepped in.
“This didn’t seem fair because her name means a lot to her and her dad whereas I am not close to my extended family so have no emotional attachment to my name,” Grant told News Corp.
The pair had spoken about the matter in the months leading up to their wedding but it wasn’t until Grant was renewing his passport that the decision was made.
“I was sitting there, staring at the little box where I had to write my name and I just thought, ‘I’m doing this — it feels right,” he added.
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But soon after the pair became Mr and Mrs Phillips, Grant found himself making headlines around the world that resulted in his social media accounts being flooded with abusive and even threatening messages.
“Go kill yourself,” one man wrote.
"I hope your wife can't have kids, that'll be god's way of punishing you,” another wrote.
Grant later revealed just how vile some of the reaction had been, sharing a message from a man who said he hoped he and Jade “die in a car crash so that your genes don’t continue”.
He said even a colleague questioned his decision, saying it was emasculating and that it somehow made him "less of a man".
Dumbfounded by the reactions, Grant said such sexist opinions belong in the past.
"This is not about them, this is about us. And if I can do this for her, to make her happy, then why wouldn’t I?”
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