Updated: January 17, 2012
Two more gay Upstate couples and another in Charleston are planning to ask the state for marriage licenses.
Now a total of six couples are part of the WE DO Campaign.
Posted: January 16, 2012
Three same sex couples plan to go to the Greenville County courthouse this week to ask for marriage licenses. Ivy Hill and Misha Gibson, along with two other couples, know their request will be denied. "We each other about a year ago," remembers Gibson. "We met and talked and went for coffee, and the rest is history."
Gibson and Hill's fight is part of the Campaign For Southern Equality's "We Do" message. The organization, based in Asheville, is trying to bring awareness to the issue, and fight for equal rights for all same sex couples. "There are 1200 rights that come along with marriage that we're not privileged to," says Hill. Adds Gibson, "Growing up thinking about the person you're going to marry, and then you meet that person, and realize that you can't here in the state we call home. That's disheartening."
Supporters say there are benefits beyond equality for allowing same sex couples to marry. According to the Williams Institute, gay marriages in Massachusetts boosted the state's economy by $37 million. Six states, plus Washington D.C., have legalized same sex marriage.
In 2006, 78 percent of voters in South Carolina supported a constitutional amendment not just banning gay marriage, but any other type of domestic union. Resident Ugenia Hawkins says "By God's word it says it shouldn't be done, so that's what I believe in." Josh Black sees it differently. "It's not our place to make laws to prevent people from sinning," he says. "We don't need to meddle in each other's lives."
Gibson and Hill will join dozens of others beginning at 3:45 at the Greenville Probate Court Tuesday and Wednesday. The request for licenses will be followed by a brief prayer service. "We're going and we know we're going to be denied," Hill says. "But we're going to continue to stand up."
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