Same-Sex Couples Call for Marriage Rights on 2nd Anniversary of Amendment One
On May 8 local same-sex couples will apply for marriage licenses at the Wake County Register of Deeds Office. They will be joined by legally-married same-sex couples who will pay $26 to record their out-of-state marriage licenses in order to create a public record of their legal marriage.
Trudy and Justine Price-O’Neil of Wake County are among the couples that will record their Massachusetts marriage license at the Wake County Register of Deeds office. Together for a decade, they are mothers to a two-year-old and are both teachers. Trudy Price O’Neil will be honored as Enloe High School Teacher of the Year at a ceremony on Thursday evening.
“While the federal government recognizes our marriage, it’s important to us that our home state of North Carolina does too,” says Justine Price-O’Neil. “This matters for reasons like state taxes and insurance policies, but also for our little girl to have two legal parents, and so she can know without a doubt that her family is just as valid and important as everyone else’s.”
The couples will be joined by family and clergy from across faith traditions, such as Rev. Nancy Petty of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh and Rev. Doug Long, Trudy and Justine’s pastor at Umstead Park United Church of Christ, who will stand in support of them as they record their license. This action takes place two years to the day since the passage of Amendment One, North Carolina’s Constitutional ban against same-sex marriage.
Join us for a series of events this week as we stand up to Amendment One.
“Every day that Amendment One remains on the books it hurts families like Trudy, Justine and their daughter. It also sends a message to LGBT youth in our state that they are less than. This law is being challenged in the courts, and these brave couples are standing up today because they have a fundamental right to marry and to have their marriage recognized in their home state,” says Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Executive Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, which coordinates the WE DO Campaign. “We’re also standing up to ensure that LGBT youth across our state hear a message that they are deserving of equality in every sphere of life.”
A look back to May 8, 2012. WATCH:
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