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Houstonians Use Valentines Day to Raise Issue of Gay Marriage in Texas

Posted byHoumanitarian

Video: KIAH 39 Newsfix

Minh Dam, Houston Chronicle
With tears slowly streaming down her face, Janine Wilson left the Harris County Clerk’s Office hand in hand with the person she loves.

This wasn’t a terribly surprising scene, considering some couples leaving the downtown building are emotional after getting their marriage license. And after all, Thursday was Valentine’s Day. But for Wilson, these were not tears of happiness.

She and Luciana Broussard were denied a marriage license Thursday because, like the clerk told them, Texas does not acknowledge same-sex marriages.

“I wasn’t expecting that intense emotion,” Wilson said. “To hear somebody deny something like that, while people were coming in dressed in white and freely getting their marriage licenses on Valentine’s Day. I was just overwhelmed in sadness.”

The couple, who have been together for three years, joined other same-sex couples in a demonstration organized by the Foundation for Family and Marriage Equality, a Houston organization that seeks rights and benefits denied to same-sex couples and their families.

After more than a dozen participants were denied marriage licenses, they chanted and marched to City Hall. They carried signs with messages such as: “Houston we have a problem. Gay couples can’t marry” and “Gay rights are not special rights.”

Mayor Annise Parker and the city of Houston declared Valentine’s Day 2013 Freedom to Marry Day in honor of the committed couples.

State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, introduced a bill Thursday that would permit same-gender couples in Texas the freedom to marry. He said he filed the measure as a Valentine’s Day gift to all Texans. + + + Gay couples march for rights on Valentine’s Day.
(Read more of this story at the Chron.com)

ALSO: Gay Rights Bill Filed on Valentine’s Day (Texas Tribune)

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