Peter Kline and Omar Ramirez embrace after being unofficially married.
Shinay McNeill

It was big. It was gay. But, the marriage was not legally recognized, and that is what organizers say they want to change. On October 2, despite a steady downpour, a large crowd of students and activists gathered in downtown Rochester for a protest wedding ceremony. The stated aim was to support the passage of legislation recognizing same-sex marriage in New York State.

The protest was organized by the Rochester Civil Rights Front (CRF), a student-heavy, local group that was formed last summer to advocate for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) issues. The group argues that marriage is a civil right, and that it (and other rights) are unjustly denied to the GLBT community.

Melissa Kelsey, a SUNY Brockport student and founding CRF organizer, didn’t hesitate to frame their cause in historic terms. She wants to see sexual orientation protected by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and said, of providing civil unions in place of marriage, “Separate is not equal.”

At 4 p.m., people began to arrive across from the Liberty Pole, a large monument near Franklin and East Main streets. Protestors crowded under a sheltering overhang along Midtown Plaza, an abandoned shopping mall, while Kelsey, two reverends, and other organizers led the ceremony from farther out on the sidewalk.

As the crowd gathered, signs were passed out (“Wedding gifts: 1,324 civil rights”) and chants spread (“Gay, straight, black, white! Marriage is a civil right!”). Reverend Sally Hamlin, minister of the First Universalist Church of Rochester, and Reverend Dr. Sharon Jacobson, founding pastor of Tawa Pano Unity Fellowship Church, began the wedding ceremonies.

The question “Who is getting married here today?” was met with a cheer, and three couples stepped forward in response. The couples were then married by both reverends and the marriages were pronounced. “By the love that has brought you here today, by the vows you have exchanged, and by the integrity of your commitment.”

A protester for gay rights witnesses the unofficial marriage between three couples.
Shinay McNeill

Peter Kline and Omar Ramirez, partners of five years, were one of the newlywed couples, and Kline stresses the integrity of commitment. “I think that couples are judged,” says Kline. “The longevity and commitment to each other is judged by the word marriage. So to me, marriage is a very important commitment you make to yourself, to your partner, to society; and to me that is important.” Kline also acknowledges marriage as an important legal status, but he says, “Really, it is about love.”

Some of the protesters then marched to a reception and panel discussion that took place at the headquarters of the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley (GAGV) on East Main St. The reactions to the chanting and sign-carrying march were varied. One man gave a thumbs down sign from a shop window while another sitting on a front step chanted along as marchers passed.

The stated purpose of the event was to help effect passage of bill A07732, a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in New York State. That bill passed the New York State Assembly last May and is now being considered in a narrowly-divided New York State Senate.

A second purpose was to promote the National Equality March taking place on October 11. That march, which will take place in Washington, District of Columbia, will advocate for all GLBT issues, not just marriage. The CRF has been working with GAGV to provide buses to ticket-holders for that demonstration.

The National Equality March is important because, as Kelsey says, “If we do this piecemeal, sort of state-by-state passage of marriage equality ... a fight won today can be easily lost tomorrow, take California for example ... and as long as DOMA, [the Federal] Defense of Marriage Act, is in effect, it is ... just a symbolic thing that you can get married in New York State.”