Image by bright strangely via FlickrDirect action and civil disobedience were the order of the day across the nation Monday, as LGBT activists answered the call to action issued by Marriage Equality USA and Get Equal to celebrate Valentine's Day by demanding that their state legislators grant them their God-given right to marry the one they love.From Advocate.com:
Six LGBT activists were arrested Monday afternoon in Chicago after refusing to leave a city marriage bureau after a same-sex couple was denied a marriage license.You may be wondering what all the fuss is about. Didn't Illinois just approve civil unions? Yes they did and it goes into effect on June 1st.
Judy Heithmar and Danelle Wylder sought the license at the marriage bureau in the Richard J. Daley Center in downtown Chicago. They were arrested along with Cassandra Avenatti, Lindsey Dietzler, Corrine Mina, and Noa Francis Shayden, said Andrea Crain, a spokeswoman for their group.
The people arrested are affiliated with Join the Impact Chicago and Video Action League, which were responding to a call by Marriage Equality USA and GetEqual for coordinated actions across the country on Valentine's Day to raise awareness about the need for federal marriage equality.
The activists are seeking to make a statement that civil unions, which Illinois will offer beginning June 1 under a bill recently signed into law, are insufficient and that marriage equality is needed nationally. “This is about equality,” Wylder said at the marriage bureau, according to a press release. “It’s about how we as queer couples deserve the same governmental rights and protections afforded to our heterosexual counterparts to legally protect our families.”I've said it before and I'll say it again, separate is never equal.
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