WE DO Campaign Grows to Greenville, SC

On January 17 and 18, 2012, three LGBT couples in Greenville, SC will request – and be denied – marriage licenses as the Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE) grows its WE DO Campaign across the South. The purpose of the WE DO Campaign is to resist discriminatory marriage laws and to call for full LGBT equality under federal law. This stage of the WE DO Campaign will occur days before South Carolina’s Presidential primary. CSE has invited all candidates for the Republican nomination for President to participate in a Prayer Service for Reconciliation which will take place directly after the couples request licenses. Led by clergy, this prayer service will call for people to treat each other with love even as we stand on opposite sides of theological and political debates about LGBT rights.Greenville, SC – At 3 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17, 2012, Alyssa Weaver and Michel McIver will request – and be denied – a marriage license at the Greenville County Probate Court. The couple, engaged to be married, will be joined by a group of supporters including local clergy and community members. On Wednesday, January 18, 2012, two more couples – Misha Gibson and her partner Ivy  Hill, along with Erin King and her partner Sam Dawkins – will request marriage licenses.

Each of the three couples will be denied a license because they do not meet the legal requirements for marriage in South Carolina, which stipulate that partners must be of the opposite sex. The couples will take this action as part of the Campaign for Southern Equality’s WE DO Campaign, through which LGBT people and allies resist unjust laws and call for full equality under federal law for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

On both days, the action will be followed immediately by a Prayer Service for Reconciliation, which will take place outside of the Probate Court office. In the spirit of reconciliation, the Campaign for Southern Equality has invited all candidates for the Republican presidential nomination to participate in this prayer service. (The invitation can be viewed here.)

“Too many lives have been lost and too many families torn apart because of how divisively this issue is debated in the public square. We do not expect to come to agreement on policy, but we do extend a hand to you, asking you to join us as we pray to our Creator for the strength to always choose love,” CSE wrote in its invitation to candidates. To date, no candidate has accepted the invitation.“LGBT people and families live all across South Carolina and the South, yet do so as second class citizens. The people taking part in the WE DO Campaign are standing up to say, we are equal and discriminatory laws must change on the federal level, says Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Executive Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality and a candidate for ordination in the United Church of Christ.

Greenville, SC, is the second site of the WE DO Campaign. Until full federal equality is reached, the Campaign for Southern Equality will continue to grow the WE DO Campaign to communities across the South.

[The following individuals are available for interviews:

Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Executive Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, at (828) 242-6672 or jbeachferrara@gmail.com.

Alyssa Weaver, member of LGBT couple applying for a license, at (843) 330-8234.

Ivy Hill, member of LGBT couple applying for a license, at (864) 420-2841 or ivyhill87@gmail.com.

Rev. Susie Smith, Pastor, Peace Congregational Church and member of the Support Team for couples, at susiebsmith@bellsouth.net or 864-634-4205.]