UPDATED: Gay couple will apply for marriage license at Dallas’ Freedom to Marry Day demonstration

by PegNews wire

Flowers, tuxedos, and a pastor will make this a celebratory affirmation of the couple’s marriage while at the same time demanding an end to marriage segregation.

DALLAS — A same-sex wedding ceremony and protest for the rights that are denied to Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgender (LGBT) couples will take place on Friday before Valentines Day, February 12 beginning at noon. The ceremony will begin in the Historical Plaza, outside the Records Building at 509 Main St. in downtown Dallas followed by the newlyweds proceeding to the marriage license office with the crowd in tow to demand a license that recognizes their union. Flowers, tuxedos, and a pastor will make this a celebratory affirmation of the couple’s marriage while at the same time demanding an end to marriage segregation. Freedom to Marry Day is being co-sponsored by Equality March Texas.

Federal and state legislation, along with a state constitutional amendment, deny some 1300 rights and obligations that accompany marriage to LGBT couples. Due to dim prospects on repealing Texas’s anti-gay constitutional amendment and legislation activists with Queer LiberAction and Equality March Texas argue that the only way for all LGBT Americans to be treated with dignity and fairly is for marriage equality to become federal law.

“The rights of LGBT couples are being used as political fodder across the country. In recent months, equality and justice have won out through the legalization of marriage equality in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington D.C., but defeats in Maine and New Jersey are discouraging. Obama’s inaction on advancing the LGBT struggle for equality is not only deeply disappointing but with his firm understanding in constitutional law it’s utterly intolerable as well,” says Blake Wilkinson of Queer LiberAction.

The event will take place before Valentines Day, at a time when so much is up in the air across the country regarding marriage equality. California’s Proposition 8 case, one of the most important civil rights cases for the LGBT community, is being heard in federal court sure to make its way to the Supreme Court. New Jersey and Maine were just added to the list of dozens of other states whose constitution has been amended to exclude LGBT couples from marriage. Only five states allow marriage equality, with Washington D.C. becoming the latest body to recognize marriages between gays and lesbians.

UPDATE: Despite the snowy weather, about a dozen people gathered downtown on Friday, according to our photographer, Stephen Masker. Event organizers talked on a megaphone about how lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender couples should have rights just like other couples. The lesbian couple to be married was unable to apply for a marriage license because the city office was closed, but they will return on Wednesday, February 17 to try to get the license.

Source: Queer LiberAction

John McClelland, verified:

Would be nice if some of these same people would vote for Democrats and/or become part of the political process so we can repeal these laws. Shouting outside on the lawn has its purpose sometimes, but actually being inside the house is the way to get things done.