A North Carolina lesbian couple were arrested Friday after twice being denied a marriage license and then refusing to leave the Buncombe County Register of Deeds office.
As part of the Coalition for Southern Equality's "We Do" Campaign, the Reverend Kathryn Cartledge and her partner of 30 years, Elizabeth Eve, were among the first to request a license two weeks ago, and after their second attempt Friday afternoon, they initiated a sit-in. After being asked to leave, police were called, and the pair was arrested around 4 p.m.
"Today's action is about real people saying, I will no longer live as a second-class citizen in my country," said the coalition's executive director, Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, in a statement. "Kathryn and Elizabeth have devoted their lives to public service and to the values of love and fairness. Today, they stand up not just for their right to be marry, but for all LGBT people who know firsthand how harmful these laws are. We are saying, simply, we are equal people. Laws that treat us as unequal must change. We will continue to resist them until they do."
According to Q Notes, "The civil disobedience was the culmination of a two-week-long campaign organized by the Coalition for Southern Equality and comes as campaigns form to defeat an anti-LGBT state constitutional amendment on marriage and civil unions. About two dozen same-sex couples have been denied marriage licenses over the course of the group's 'We Do' Campaign. The group organized several couples in requesting the licenses each weekday since Oct. 3."
Organizers are hoping to expand the "We Do" campaign in 2012.
Read more here. Watch the coalition's promo video below. And for more images from the protest, see the following pages for pictures shared on Twitter by the group as things were unfolding.
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