February 12, 2008
Meeting outside Charlottesville's Circuit Court, over 40 people gathered for one purpose. To raise awareness and support for gay marriage.
"I think it's really important that we have allied people, people of faith, coming and saying we think this right needs to be extended to everybody," said supporter Lynn Heath.
"I'm soon to be married 30 years and I think that everybody should have that opportunity to have the wonderful relationships and things that go along with being a married couple," said supporter Pat Hanson.
Several couples made their way to the clerk's office, including the event's organizer.
"I asked him to give us marriage licenses, and he asked me if I knew of a statute, a Virginia code statute or some law that allow him to do that and I told him not yet," said attorney and event organizer André Hakes.
But hakes says she's counting on that changing soon. She says that while there is a long way to go, progress is being made.
"It makes me really happy to see Charlottesville residents not be afraid to come out and stand up and demand their civil rights," said Hakes.
"I just hope enough people were here to open up enough other people's minds," said Hanson.
And organizers are hopeful that through events like these, everyone gets their message.
"Gay families are families too and that these laws they hurt people, they hurt real people and they need to be changed," said Hakes.
A message they plan on sending until those changes are made.
The comments sections of Newsplex.com are designed for thoughtful, intelligent conversation and debate. We want to hear from our viewers, but we only ask that you use your best judgment. E-mail is required, but will not be displayed with comment.
As a host Newsplex.com welcomes a wide spectrum of opinions. However this is a site that we host. We have a responsibility to all our readers to try to keep our comment section fair and decent. For that reason The Newsplex reserves the right to not post or to remove any comment.
If you have any ideas to improve the conversation or this section let us know. Send an e-mail to webmaster@newsplex.com.
powered by Disqus
| There are currently no active polls at this time. Click here to view other polls on our site and past poll results. |
