Cameron Hunt and Keyan Herron, a gay Richmond couple, on Tuesday joined four other gay and lesbian couples in what has become a Valentine's Day tradition — a trek to the Richmond Circuit Court clerk's office to file applications for marriage licenses.
For the eighth year, the applications by gay and lesbian couples were rejected because Virginia does not recognize same-sex marriage. But Hunt and Herron followed their hearts and later were unofficially wed outside the John Marshall Courts Building.
"In our hearts, this is a marriage and is to be recognized as such," Hunt said after the couple recited their vows, kissed and embraced in a ceremony officiated by the Rev. Jeanne Pupke.
The gay and lesbian couples who applied for marriage licenses — along with another gay man who asked for his Massachusetts marriage to be recognized in Virginia — said they were buoyed by recent events. This month, Washington state legalized same-sex marriage, making it the seventh in the nation to do so, and a federal appeals court ruled California's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, saying it serves no purpose other than to "lessen the status and human dignity" of gays.
The Richmond couples were part of a statewide event organized by People of Faith for Equality in Virginia and were accompanied by dozens of supporters, the largest turnout in the history of the event. Clerk Bevill M. Dean welcomed the group to his office and distributed Hershey's chocolate kisses.
Dean told them that through their efforts, "we will win the battle" to legalize same-sex marriage. He said he anticipates that he will be the clerk who signs the first marriage license for a gay or lesbian couple.
"I support you 100 percent," Dean said. "I believe together we can make it happen."
Still, he pointed out that he had to reject the applications for marriage Tuesday. Virginia voters passed an amendment to the state constitution in 2006 affirming that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.
"I swore to uphold the laws of the commonwealth," he said, adding, "I did not swear to agree to them."
Outside the courthouse, protesters from Life and Liberty Ministries stood on street corners holding signs, including a bright yellow banner that read "Homosexuality is Sin."
"We come out to hold up the banner of light and truth for these people who are dazed and confused," said one protester, Paul Trout of Chesterfield County.
Hunt, 28, and his 21-year-old partner Herron, who live with Hunt's parents in their Bon Air home, were surrounded by supporters for their brief outdoor ceremony.
The couple, who posed for photos with Pupke and Hunt's mother, plan to have a church wedding this summer and travel to New York to get a marriage license.
Hunt's mother, Laura Hunt, said Tuesday that her son asked if he could borrow one of his father's dress shirts for the day. She took pictures during the unofficial marriage ceremony with Herron, an undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University, where the couple met in the school's Queer Action club.
"I couldn't be more proud," Laura Hunt said. "It's beautiful that they are spiritually married at the moment, and I can't wait until they can get legally married."
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