Friday, February 13, 2009
Gay rights activists and supporters hold demonstration in Dallas while couple tries to get marriage license
Same-sex marriage demonstration
(Click photo to see entire gallery)
Kim Davis (right) and Rose Preizler (left).
Approximately 20 GLBT activists and supporters gathered Thursday at the Dallas County Records Building in a demonstration to celebrate National Freedom to Marry Day and to demand that the government recognize gay marriage. The demonstration included a wedding ceremony between Kim Davis and Rose Preizler, followed by a procession to the marriage license desk.
Besides the “Marriage Equality Now!” signs peppered throughout the attendees, it was pretty much your regular wedding. A pastor officiated the service, vows were read, wedding bubbles were blown and there was even a champagne toast and bouquet toss. When it comes to weddings, the marriage license often tends to pop up as an issue, a point of stress on “the big day” that is usually looked back on in jest. Did we remember to get the priest to sign it? Did the Best Man (or God-forbid the groom) leave it lying somewhere forcing a mad rush back to said hotel-limo-bar to retrieve it? Oh, this trivial but important situation will be so funny in about a week. At this particular wedding, however, the issue was the simple act of obtaining the marriage license.
“I think it's important that everybody has the right and ability to protect their family legally,” said Davis (the bride), after referencing the recent case in Florida where a woman was refused visitation to her dying partner at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
“I should legally be able to take care of us,” Preizler (the other bride) said.
After the ceremony, the crowd proceeded into the Records Building to the room labeled “Marriage License.” Davis and Preizler went to the desk to ask for a marriage license. After the clerk checked their ID's, they were denied on the grounds that under Texas State Law, marriage is defined as between a man and a woman.
Dallas County Clerk John F. Warren then came down to address the group of demonstrators and was promptly grilled by Blake Wilkinson, founder of Queer LiberAction. Wilkinson tried to get Warren to sign a marriage license for the couple illegally, citing San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's decision to illegally issue same-sex marriage licenses and referencing the pre-1967 days when it was illegal for interracial couples to wed. Wilkinson even accused Warren of upholding bigoted laws.
Warren reiterated that his job is to uphold the law, not write the laws. "The only thing I can do is my job that the state dictates to me,” he said. “We only fill our role as clerks, we leave our personal feelings at home.”
“Warren is a spineless coward in my book, upholding bigoted laws,” Wilkinson said after the group exited the building. “We were denied by a spineless coward.”
After the whole ordeal, Davis and Preizler weren't surprised about the outcome. “It went about how I expected,” Davis said, although she was happy the clerk went through the motions of checking their ID's.
“It was disappointing,” Preizler said, “but reality is that's the law.”
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geriatric1943, says:
One day gay marriages will be permitted, not because it is the right thing to do, but because people will finally give in. When that happens, we will continue the decline of this once great society. History has shown this happen before and we know that mankind does not learn from history.
Anonymous
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Victor Johnson, says:
Well we all know that Gay Marriage is a ploy drummed up by evil Florists, Hair Dressers, Make-up artists, Interior Decorators and other Velvet Mafia affiliate operatives to siphon off business from otherwise hard working Americans living the path of righteousness. It doesn't have anything to do with equality, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness (see Declaration of Independence...) or extending basic economic protections to a marginalized population, benefits that any couple lucky enough to get knocked up having premarital sex can get at the county courthouse for 70 bucks.
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Russ Vandeveerdonk, says:
Victor Johnson-you make a point, BUT it is called the PINK MAFIA not Velvet Mafia and they are very powerful here in Dallas. And I am not kidding. Remember this is a capitalistic society we now live in today, everyone gets a chance to make a buck. And I have said before, Dallas though has a "Tuff Pink Mafia".
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
John McClelland, says:
I think it is completely disrespectful for the County Clerk to be referred to as a "spineless coward". He is doing what the law tells him he can and can not do. It isn't his job to deviate, regardless of his personal opinion as a Democrat.
Holding a ceremony and attempting to obtain the license to make a point is one thing. Degrading someone else in the process is another. And this is why this group of activists will not be taken seriously.
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Victor Johnson, says:
My bad Russ. I will make sure my new recruits are more accurate with the delicate nomenclature with which they show their elders :p
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Laura Seewoester, says:
Victor and Russ, here is some pseudo-official clarification on that one, just so we are all on the same page as to who everyone is referring to:
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Mafia">Velvet Mafia</a>
<a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pink+mafia">Pink Mafia</a>
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
jtmbls, says:
While I sympathize with the struggle here, it did throw me to see the way this Warren character was treated. Marry who you want but don’t expect me to give up my livelihood for your cause. I don’t understand why anyone would expect such a thing.
Anonymous
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
robotgas, says:
Well said, jtmbls.
I think it's retarded that 2 consenting adults can't proclaim their love for each other in a way that doesn't hurt anyone. They can't physically reproduce, and they're human beings, so what's the big deal? If you are against gay marriage, then don't get one and shut the f up. But, at the same time, calling people names isn't going to get us anywhere.
Anonymous
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Pavel Lishin, says:
"When that happens, we will continue the decline of this once great society. History has shown this happen before."
Can you point out in a history book where a great civilization fell after allowing same-sex marriage?
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Jason Rice, says:
::Warren is a spineless coward in my book
So a guy that gets no warning and no prep and no backup goes out to speak to a bunch of openly hostile people and takes a relentless beating based on the simple principle of doing his job with dignity in the face of outright hatred....
is a spineless coward.
Now someone who accosts a guy already in a corner with a gang of buddies bent on public humiliation of that poor cornered public servant ....
Right... hero
Jason's Interesting Antonym Examples of the Day for Friday the 13th.
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
jtmbls, says:
Jason - Angry women come in all shapes, sizes and sexual proclivity.
Doesn’t history generally show that “the good ole days” weren’t really all that great to begin with when you actually had to live through them?
We have no one to blame but us heteros for the degradation of marriage. Fifty percent, at a minimum, for bailing out of it altogether at least once in a lifetime. Then, sadly, I wouldn’t even want to speculate on the percentages of spousal abuse or infidelity that go on behind closed doors, further destroying this prized blessed union.
Maybe that is the whole point being made by all the “anti” groups after all. Do whatever you like as long as you pretend you’re not doing it. Huh, I think I am learning from history.
Anonymous
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Jason Rice, says:
::learning from history.
Repeating it has its advantages. They use the same quizzes every semester.
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Pavel Lishin, says:
Am I the only person that thinks that divorce does not necessarily signify a failure of marriage? I see two people staying together, loveless and catty at each other, as much worse.
Anyway, if we're not allowing homosexuals to marry, we might as well not allow infertile couples to join in holy matrimony, either, etc., etc. We've all seen these arguments before.
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Zach Lewis, says:
I agree with John M. For him not to be considered a "spineless coward" what was he supposed to do? Risk losing his job, break the current law...for something that wouldn't hold up anyway? Did they really expect that clerk would give them a license? I doubt it...so to then lash out at him only weakens cause. I realize people feel strongly about this, but to make a change like this you have to start at the right place, and giving a low level clerk a hard time in a situation like this isn't it. He was just doing his job....and his job has nothing to do with changing the laws.
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Jason Rice, says:
Yeah, I'm quick becoming a John M. fan myself.
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
jtmbls, says:
Probably calling the clerk “low level” isn’t the right place to start either...jussayin...
Anonymous
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Jason Rice, says:
::“low level”
Helpless, however, is quite accurate.
Amid all this, remember their entire point was This conversation. They expected to fail. They expected confrontation. They expected coverage of a conflict and failure.
Congrats. Yes, now I am reminded there are people that feel left out of a system to which others' access is taken for granted.
Moreover, I am reminded that white horizontal lines do absolutely NOTHING to slim and sleeveless is difficult to pull off at best.
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
John McClelland, says:
Protesting is always a good thing. But, you have to have some level of decorum when you do it. Insulting someone generally isn't in the handbook.
I am also one of those people who attempts to work within the political process. (Don't hiss at me too much). I wonder how many of the Liberaction folks are in Stonewall Democrats or, God forbid, the Log Cabin Republicans?
Verified
9 months, 4 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
jtmbls, says:
::Moreover, I am reminded that white horizontal lines do absolutely NOTHING to slim and sleeveless is difficult to pull off at best.
Right you are Jason. An investment in a good stylist and everyone probably would have felt much better, thus opening up a more positive line of communication.
Anonymous
9 months, 3 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Jason Rice, says:
Yes, the medium is the message.
(or in this case, large)
Verified
9 months, 3 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Travis Bush, says:
So based on the picture, two dudes tried to get married?
Verified
9 months, 3 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
jtmbls, says:
See, the day wasn’t a complete bust! Some stereotypes were broken. Like the one about fat people always being jolly. Perhaps it will be of some consolation to them, a battle but not the war. And also make them think twice before picking on some poor unsuspecting civil servant.
Anonymous
9 months, 3 weeks agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal