Same-Sex Couples Use Valentine’s Day To Push Marriage Initiative

Same-sex couples will request marriage licenses Monday at county clerks offices in California and throughout the nation as part of a nationwide effort tied to Valentine’s Day to win support for the repeal of Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act.

Organized efforts were scheduled throughout California, including Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, Fresno, but none for Palm Springs.

The couples were expected to be given fliers reminding them that California law limits marriage to be between one man and one woman.

“Valentine’s Day is the day that has come to symbolize love in our country and so it’s fitting that it is also the day that we remind ourselves that the law does not treat all love equally,” said Jan Wishon, a member of the Los Angeles County Chapter of Marriage Equality USA, the event’s organizer.

“As a straight mother of three, I am grateful that I was able to marry the love of my life 34 years ago. But I look around me at loving, committed couples who are denied that right simply because of their orientation or identity.”

This will be the 10th annual Marriage Counter Actions conducted by Marriage Equality USA, an Oakland-based organization whose sole purpose is to give same-sex couples the same legal and societal status as opposite-sex couples.

“We engage in this annual event to put a local face on marriage discrimination around the country and render visible the discrimination currently enforced at government marriage counters in most states in America,” said Marriage Equality USA media director Molly McKay.

The attempt for same-sex couples to be issued marriage licenses drew criticism from Brian Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, which bills itself as a nonprofit organization with a mission to protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it.

“For some people, it doesn’t seem to be enough to go to court to overturn the votes of 7 million — some people think they have the individual right to ignore the laws of California,” Brown told City News Service. “The majority of courts, as well as the majority of Californians, believe to make a marriage you need a husband and wife.”

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled last year that Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure which banned same-sex marriage in California, was unconstitutional. However, a stay was put on the ruling until an appellate panel makes its decision.

The Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton in 1996, prevents the federal government from recognizing the validity of same-sex marriages.