APRIL 10.2004 • Q-NOTES
Legal
13
Couple fights for marriage
fiom page 1
of the process of having a public dialogue,”
Mullinax said.
"it's the beginning,” says Pike. “We’re
just taking it a step at a time.
“I was born in the south and I grew up
in the church — in the country. 1 learned
from my mother and father and my faith to
stand up in the face of adversity. Right now
i’m standing up to ask my government to
recognize my family.”
But what prompted the two take the
first step?
“It was Bush’s statement on the
Federal Marriage Amendment,” says
Mullinax. “Our family already sees us as a
couple, and we felt Bush was gonna take
away the rights that we’ve worked for thus
far with his actions.
“Although it didn’t affect us, we thought
it was a big plus for the government here
to offer domestic partnership benefits and
we felt that [the amendment] would take
those benefits away, too.
“That same night we talked with a
friend who was excited about getting mar
ried to a woman in Mexico and we realized,
as a gay couple, we couldn’t have that. All
of those things made it worth the cost of
standing up, so that we can have a voice.”
Although Pike and Mullinax were con
fident of the need for their actions, other
individuals in the LCBT community
weren’t as intially receptive.
“At first, some of the people around us
were saying, ‘wait a minute, you can’t do
this,”’ Mullinax recalls. “I think they felt
that the battle would be better fought else
where and that doing this would just has
ten a marriage amendment in North
Carolina.”
“We thought we already don’t have
anything — we have the DOMA laws — so
we would lose by being silent,” Pike says.
“We were acquiesing — 1 just couldn’t be
quiet, 1 had to stand up.”
According to Mullinax, Ian Palmquist at
EqualityNC intially expressed reservations
about their efforts “but is now supportive
'Poster boys' for gay marriage in N.C.:
Richard Mullinax (left) and Perry Pike.
of what we’re doing.”
“Our attorney looked at the laws and
saw that there was room for possibility
here,” Mullinax continues, “in the ‘qualifi
cations part’ it doesn’t specifically talk
about a man and a woman — she feels
there is room for a judge to make that deci
sion and to make a decison different from
what the attorney general has decided.”
North Carolina has a nationwide repu
tation for being one of the country’s most
conservative states. The likelihood of
same-sex marriage being allowed here in
the near future — according to many LGBT
activists who support the cause — is rela
tively slim.
Pike is unsure about those prospects.
“I don’t know,” he says guardedly. “But
if we don’t try, we won’t ever have it. It’s
my dream and I’m willing to try and make
that dream a reality.”
Mullinax seems a bit more optimistic
over the future prospects.
“1 think we’re gonna see it soon,” he
says brightly. “The legislators are coming
into session. Same-sex marriage is a truly
conservative idea. The state of North
Carolina will only stand to benefit.
“If the fundamentalists block this, they
are not Christian," he announces. “Now
are people gonna buy this argument? 1
hope so. This is a win-win situation.”
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