Apr 24, 2014

Equality NC Launches CookOUT for Marriage Equality Campaign

RALEIGH, N.C. – During a 10-day period in May, beginning on the second anniversary of the passage of Amendment One, North Carolina’s 2012 constitutional ban on the freedom to marry (May 8), and ending the weekend after oral arguments in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals case of Bostic vs. Schaefer, a case that could help topple Amendment One and marriage equality bans in several southern states (May 18), same-sex couples will be gathering throughout North Carolina to CookOUT for Marriage Equality with friends, families, and their communities to celebrate their marriages and tens of thousands of other same-sex couples that North Carolina refuses to recognize.

CookOUTs for Marriage Equality are also taking place in Virginia, West Virginia, and South Carolina – states that also fall under the jurisdiction of the Fourth Circuit, and whose married lesbian and gay couples will be affected by the court’s decision.

The four-state effort will showcase many of these thousands of same-sex couples living in each state and the true impact of laws that discriminate against them.

“North Carolina’s support for the freedom to marry is growing at an astronomical rate largely due to the visibility and voices of loving, committed same-sex couples living, working and making their homes throughout the state,” said Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality North Carolina, the group charged with organizing North Carolina’s CookOUT for Marriage Equality campaign. “It’s time for our laws to catch up and accurately reflect the prevailing opinion of our country: lesbian and gay North Carolinians deserve the freedom to marry the person they love in the place they call home.”