{"id":39000,"date":"2013-06-27T01:35:46","date_gmt":"2013-06-27T08:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=39000"},"modified":"2013-06-29T15:47:08","modified_gmt":"2013-06-29T22:47:08","slug":"united-for-marriage-equality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/06\/27\/united-for-marriage-equality\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents unite for marriage equality, rally highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Equality Rally was held from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 26, at 15th Street West and Avenue K.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 The local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning\u00a0(LGBTQ) community and allies held a rally in Lancaster Wednesday evening (June 26) to celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings that cleared the way for gay marriage to resume in California.<\/p>\n

The crowd of more than 100 supporters spread out on the four corners of 15th Street West and Avenue K with colorful flags, signs and banners. Passing motorists honked their horns and waved as the crowd cheered and chanted, \u201cThis is what equality looks like!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"(L<\/a>
(L to R) Matthew Forster, Naomi Vanmourik, and Janice Vanmourik.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe fact that all of us can be equal and the fact that we can all share in the same civil rights is all we\u2019re asking for, and so this is a huge step for us,\u201d said Gina Piellusch. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time coming and we\u2019re so glad the day is finally here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U. S. Supreme Court Wednesday morning struck down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a law barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized by the states.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustice Kennedy specifically refers to the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment, which means that he specifically is stating that gay people and their marriages have to be treated the same as straight people and their marriages. This means we\u2019re not inferior and there is no religious implication that we\u2019re sinners and don\u2019t have the same rights,\u201d said Sue Dell.<\/p>\n

In another win for gay rights advocates in California, the high court determined that California\u2019s proposition 8 ban on same sex marriage was not properly before them, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to overturn the lower court\u2019s striking down of the law. This effectively cleared the way for same sex marriages to resume in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in California has equal rights now as it pertains to marriage,\u201d said Katy Nelsen. \u00a0\u201cWe try to support parents, friends and families of lesbians and gays and having this validate them and validate their marriages will make that so much easier for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s rulings are especially meaningful to the Antelope Valley community, because it is such a conservative area, supporters said.<\/p>\n

\"Rody<\/a>
Rody Alexander Rodriguez and Mario Vasquez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe were here about this time last year doing a rally against homophobia, because in Lancaster there were some hate crimes and there was graffiti spray painted on a few of the local buildings,\u201d said Craig Cincis, \u201cand to be here today celebrating the fact that we can get married is huge. I was crying my eyes out all day and celebrating because I didn\u2019t think this would happen as soon as it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even as they celebrate, gay rights advocates say there is still more work to be done for the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still 37 states that do not have any same sex unions or marriage available for couples,\u201d said Mario Vasquez. \u201cWe\u2019re not done until all states have full marriage equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"(L<\/a>
(L to R) Mercedes Witt, Stephanie Sandoval, Frank Macias and Craig Cincis. Cincis said he woke up to texts from his sister and mom congratulating him. It was especially emotional for him because his sister had voted against marriage equality in 2008, but now she was singing a different tune, Cincis said.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"(L<\/a>
(L to R) Mary Ressler and Michael Jones. “This means that my husband and I can actually get married out here now, because we were married in Washington, DC before I moved out here,” Jones said.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"(L<\/a>
(L to R) Gina Piellusch and Eric Morga. “We definitely had a very hard struggle here, because [the AV] was a very pro [proposition] 8 community,” Piellusch said.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Matthew<\/a>
Matthew Forster (front) flashed a sign asking drivers to “honk for equality.” The majority of motorists complied.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Robert<\/a>
Robert Benitez said his sign, which is a take on the City of Lancaster’s logo and catchphrase, represents pride in his hometown and himself. “Marrying my partner is very important to me, and now that it\u2019s recognized on the federal level, it\u2019s something that he and I will definitely benefit from,” Benitez said.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For more pictures from this event, visit our\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Previous related story<\/span>:\u00a0High court clears way for same-sex marriage in CA, residents to rally<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 The local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning\u00a0(LGBTQ) community and allies held a rally in Lancaster Wednesday evening (June 26) to celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings that cleared the way for gay marriage to resume in California. The crowd of more than 100 supporters spread out on the four corners of 15th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39000"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}