It’s been eight months since North Carolina voters approved an amendment that defines marriage only between one man and one woman. But that isn’t stopping same-sex couples in Southern states, including N.C. from continuing to apply for marriage licenses.
Seven same-sex couples from the Winston-Salem area gathered at the Forsyth County Register of Deeds Office Monday afternoon to apply for a marriage license.
Tim Young and Mark Maxwell of Winston-Salem have been together for 22 years. They fought back a flood of emotions, as their marriage license was stamped with the denial date.
“It’s very sad. It’s very disheartening. We try to live our lives in a way that we are not denied. We have been together 20 years and have raised four children so anything that we want to do in our life we are going to continue to do,” says Young.
“The thing that is so frustrating about this whole process is the realization that in just a couple of days that the District of Columbia will recognize our union of many years and our family as whole but once we cross the line back into North Carolina, we are second class citizens, says Maxwell.
Dozens of family, friends and clergy also showed up at the county government building to support and comfort the couples during their quest for a marriage license.
Campaign for Southern Equality based in Asheville, N.C. organized the event. The group has staged peaceful protests in half a dozen Southern states over the past year to raise awareness for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) couples.
Executive Director of the organization, Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, says dozens of same-sex couples are participating in the “We Do campaign”.
“We currently are in a stage of it that has taken us from Hattiesburg, Mississippi starting on Jan. 2 all across the South. All of this is meant to tell a story about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) couples in the south and to call for full equality under federal law,” says Beach-Ferrara.
Currently, nine states and the District of have legalized same-sex marriage. In addition, 13 other states provide some sort of recognition for same-sex relationships.
But a constitutional amendment passed by NC voters last year clearly defines marriage as only between one man and one woman. Shannon Gilreath, a Wake Forest University law professor who specializes in women’s and Gender studies, says a constitutional amendment is much harder to overturn.
“Really what Amendment One has done is said to N.C. State Courts is that you no longer have jurisdiction to decide this question, so we don't get lawsuits about this anymore. In terms of what will have to happen for there to be some significant shift in N.C., you would need another constitutional amendment, barring right a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that says no state can refuse to allow access to marriage for same sex couples," says Gilreath.
This spring, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in a pair of cases challenging laws that define marriage as a union of a man and a woman. Gilreath says he sees same-sex marriage as a civil rights issue.
“When Loving versus Virginia was decided, N.C. and Virginia had laws that were equally as emphatic about laws forbidding blacks and whites to marry and so protests like this are keeping the focus on fact that something needs to be done about this grave injustice,” says Gilreath.
Gilreath added, “This is blight on our NC historical record. There are blights that dealt with the discriminatory injustices involving slavery. When folks say this is the civil rights issue of this generation, I think you are seeing the civil rights protest of this generation.”
El Rankin of Winston-Salem and Kristin Hedin got engaged in June. This is the first time they applied for and were denied a marriage license in Forsyth County. They say they are concerned about benefits issues for same-sex couples like them.
“When we do go to doctor’s offices and things like that they treat us equally, but it is still in the back in our head what if that day comes when we really are not allowed to be with us,” says Rankin.
Hedin says “I mean our car insurance accepts us, I can’t believe our health insurance won’t accept us. Yes, our car insurance has us as married.”
Rankin and Hedin say they will have a commitment ceremony in N.C., no matter what the courts decide. If they can’t get legally married in N.C. in the near future, they say they may consider moving to a state that will recognize their union.
Meanwhile, Campaign for Southern Equality will make a final stop in Virginia Thursday. Several same-sex couples will then March to the nation’s capital to take their message to lawmakers.
