From the Campaign for Southern Equality:
Asheville, N.C. – Local same-sex couples from Transylvania County will seek marriage licenses on November 1 at the Transylvania County Register of Deeds Office as the WE DO Campaign continues to grow across North Carolina. The couples will ask the Transylvania County Register of Deeds Office to issue licenses as an act of conscience and in recognition that Amendment One, which bans same-sex marriage, violates their freedom to marry.
Our hope for our future family rests on the belief that our love is constitutionally worthy of legal recognition. Sure, we could move to a state that has already opened up to couples like us, but we believe we shouldn’t have to. We have chosen to live in North Carolina, and here we hope that other North Carolinians will see Amanda and I as simply two normal Americans who happen to be in love,” say Megan Boyle and Amanda Stockli one of the couples that will request a marriage license.
Their request in Transylvania County comes on the heels of the Buncombe County Register of Deeds Office’s beginning to accept marriage license applications from same-sex couples participating in the WE DO Campaign. Buncombe County Register of Deeds, Drew Reisinger, has signaled that he is ready to issue licenses to same-sex couples, pending an opinion from Attorney General Roy Cooper. In his formal request to Attorney General Cooper, Mr. Reisinger has asked, “Why are we denying same-sex couples in North Carolina the dignity and the legal acknowledgment granted to heterosexual couples here or same-sex couples in other states?”
A new Elon poll shows support for gay marriage in NC is growing rapidly and that 68 percent of voters under 30 support marriage rights for same-sex couples: http://bit.ly/1a8UtZh. North Carolina has 27,250 same-sex couples according to 2011 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Among NC counties, Transylvania County has the 5th highest percentage of same-sex couples, according to data compiled by The Williams Institute, an LGBT think tank.
“Growing numbers of people – citizens and elected officials – recognize that Amendment One is harmful to real people across North Carolina. We will keep taking action with the WE DO Campaign until LGBT people are equal under the law,” says Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Executive Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality. “Megan and Amanda, and Susan and Elizabeth, will request marriage licenses because they have a fundamental right to marry. In this spirit, we pray that the Transylvania County Register of Deeds Office will choose to issue them a license and recognize their equality and dignity.”
Launched in 2011 as an initiative of the Campaign for Southern Equality, the WE DO Campaign has involved more than 90 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) couples requesting marriage licenses in their hometowns across the South to call for full equality. During the current stage of the campaign, LGBT couples in North Carolina will apply for marriage licenses in their hometowns on the following dates:
August 21: Madison County (completed)
August 30: Forsyth County (completed)
September 16: Guilford County (completed)
October 2: Henderson County (completed)
October 9: Mecklenburg County (completed)
October 15: Buncombe County (completed)
November 1: Transylvania County
November 4: Cabarrus County
November 22: Rowan County
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