RICHMOND, Va. For the seventh year in a row, a handful of same-sex Virginia couples requested -- and were denied -- marriage licenses at Richmond's Circuit Court in what has become a Valentine's Day tradition.
The Rev. Robin Gorsline, standing with partner Jonathan Lebolt, yesterday told the deputy clerk that the two have been together for a dozen years and would like to get married. She politely replied that she could not help them because Virginia law doesn't allow same-sex marriages.
Circuit Court Clerk Bevill M. Dean emerged from an office hallway and politely greeted Gorsline and Lebolt, along with three other same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses, and their supporters.
"Hopefully one day, we all will celebrate together," Dean told them.
The couples filed out of the downtown John Marshall Courts Building empty-handed, as they figured they would, to meet more same-sex couples and a group of supporters.
Virginia voters passed an amendment to the state constitution in 2006 affirming that marriage is a union between a man and woman.
Last year, Dean started keeping a file containing the rejected applications and other items brought by the visiting couples.
"We just thought it would be an interesting documentary of people trying to get their civil rights," Dean said yesterday, adding that he strongly supports legalizing same-sex marriages in Virginia.
"He's limited by the legislature," said Regina Largent, who was seeking a Virginia marriage license for herself and her partner, the Rev. Jeanne Pupke. "It's unfortunate that our civil rights are limited by people who are supposed to be upholding our freedoms."
Largent, who married Pupke in Canada in 2002, said she served in the U.S. Army for 22 years, "and I can't receive the same civil rights as everyone else."
After their applications were rejected, the couple gathered outside the courthouse with more than 25 other people, including self-described "straight allies" of the cause.
Responding to the idea that gay marriage could undermine family values, Lebolt said that heterosexual couples could learn a lot from monogamous, long-term gay couples. Lebolt, 50, has been with Gorsline, 63, for 12 years.
In the seven years since they started their annual protest, Lebolt said people have grown more accepting of the notion of same-sex marriage in Virginia.
"We're going to do it every year until it happens," Lebolt said. "We're confident it's going to happen in our lifetimes."
Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or rwilliams@timesdispatch.com.
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