Equal Marriage Is A Civil Right
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Florida
Background: In 1997, the Florida Legislature overwhelmingly adopted the Defense of Marriage Act, which specifically states marriage is the ''union between one man and one woman'' and bars the state from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. That ruling, however, has not stopped same sex couples from working to change the law in the state. On Feburary 25, 2004, Attorney Ellis Rubin filed suit in Ft. Lauderdale's Broward County Court on behalf of 170 gays and lesbians who seek the right to marry. The suit, brought against Broward County Clerk Howard Forman is, according to Ft. Lauderdale's NBC news affiliate, "believed to be the first formal legal challenge to the state law specifying that marriage licenses be issued only to parties consisting of one male and one female." Meanwhile in Tampa, Mayor Pam Iorio signed an order on March 18 which will extend health benefits, effective next year, to domestic partners of city employees, a legal designation that could include same-sex couples. The next day, eight same sex couples, including UU minister the
Rev. Gail Gesenhainer and her partner, Celeste DeRoche, went to
Orlando City Hall and requested licenses to be married. Michelle
Gervy, a deputy clerk at the Orange County Courthouse, handed the
couples a copy of the state statute, and informed the couples that
licenses could not be issued. The couples indicated that they wanted
to raise awareness of marriage as a matter of civil rights, and
several participated later in the day in a union ceremony sponsored
by the First Unitarian
Church of Orlando Earlier that week, the city of Key West passed a resolution in support of same sex marriage, however the move was a symbolic one, since Florida law only permits counties to issue marriage licenses. And in Key West organizers of a new White Ribbon Campaign for equality launched an effort on March 16 at the Key West City Commission meeting to emphasize the discrepancy between simultaneously extolling freedom and banning gay marriages. On March 22, 2004, gay and lesbian couples gathered in Gaineseville at the Alachua County Courthouse and elsewhere around the state as they attempted to obtain marriage licenses and were turned away. Despite the denial of licenses to same sex couples, organizers of efforts to elevate the attention of the state toward equality for all its citizens, insist that the issue will not go away, and that couples and clergy will continue to make public statements and organize public action to call attention to this issue. Media Coverage
For further information on same sex marriage in Florida
Archival Coverage from the UUA: Additional Resources:
Archival Coverage from the UUA:
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