WOMAN PLANNED CEREMONY WITH $500 CHANDELIER NAMED LUMIERE
A Leeds woman planned a chandelier commitment ceremony after falling for a light fixture she found on eBay and bought for $500.
Amanda Liberty, 35, laid out her plans in an interview the New York Post published on July 19, 2019. The Post described her as a British woman who calls herself objectum sexual, a term for attraction to inanimate objects.
Liberty said she first spotted the chandelier, which she named Lumiere and regards as female, on eBay. She said she could not stop thinking about how it looked or the energy she felt from it.
“I’m determined to have this commitment ceremony, to prove that I’m here for Lumiere and that my love is going to last,” Liberty said.
The plans for the big day
Liberty acknowledged she could not marry Lumiere in the traditional sense. She insisted her love was valid all the same.
She said she would invite the people closest to her and Lumiere. “I’m not sure what dress I’ll wear and will invite those closest to us. I’ll also be buying matching wedding rings for Lumiere and myself,” she said.
SYFY reported that she had been polishing Lumiere to get ready. OK Whatever reported that she had not set a date for the ceremony.
Lumiere is not her only love. Liberty described her relationship with multiple light fixtures as open.
She also said she restores chandeliers in her spare time. “I restore the chandeliers in my spare time so they can continue to interest people as they like to be the center of attention,” she said.
It was not her first unconventional romance. The Post reported that she changed her surname from Whittaker during an earlier long-distance relationship with the Statue of Liberty.
Liberty knew how it would sound to some people. “I know a lot of people think my attraction to chandeliers is strange, but I’m not crazy,” she said.
“I’m not hurting anyone by entering into a relationship with them, I am simply just following my heart,” she added.
The newspaper column and the complaint
The story followed her into the British press. A Sun column by Jane Moore in December 2019 described Liberty as having married a chandelier-style light fitting, Press Gazette reported.
Liberty said she and Lumiere were in a relationship, not married. She complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), arguing that the column was pejorative about her orientation and described her relationship inaccurately.
The Sun argued that the Editors’ Code reference to sexual orientation concerned attraction to people, not objects. The paper said it knew of no reputable definition that included objectum sexual.
IPSO agreed. “Clause 12 provides protection to individuals in relation to their sexual orientation towards other persons and not to objects,” the regulator said.
“The complainant’s attraction to an object did not fall within the definition of sexual orientation as provided by Clause 12 and the terms of Clause 12 were not engaged,” IPSO said.
IPSO said it recognised that Liberty found the column offensive and upsetting, but said the code did not cover matters of taste and offence. It dismissed her complaint on September 30, 2022.
