Crowd of 700+ LGBT and Straight Allies Rally In Cincinnati During 6th Circuit Same Sex Marriage Hearing – Outnumber Anti-Gay Protesters 35 to 1
A crowd estimated at well over 700 people gathered at Cincinnati, Ohio’s Fountain Square today to rally and show their support for same sex marriage at a rally put together Joshua Snyder-Hill, James Gutierrez-Winnett, and Freedom to Marry Ohio while a three-judge panel of the 6th. U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing cases from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee relating to recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states and allowing same-sex marriages themselves.
Over a dozen speaks took to the stage, including myself to speak out for not only same-sex marriage but for full state and federal equality also.
Jim Obergefell who married John Arthur in Maryland shortly before Arthur, who suffered from ALS, died last fall too to the stage and told of his fight to keep his name on Arthur’s death certificate as corrupt Attorney General Mike DeWine fights for the state of Ohio to remove it.
“The death certificate showed he was married and I was the surviving spouse,” said Obergefell, “It means we exist. The state wants to erase those facts. It is not right, not fair and downright disrespectful.”
Other speakers included: Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach, Democrat David Pepper who is running to unseat Ohio’s anti-gay Attorney General Mike DeWine, and Micheal Chanax who gave a heartfelt remembrance speech for Worley Rodehaver longtime editor of Cincinnati’s GLBT News, community volunteer, and activist who passed away on July 23, 2014 and did not live to see this day.
The Citizens for Community Values run by Phil Burress and is not only officially “affiliated” with the anti-gay hate groups the Family Research Council and the American Family Association but also helped write Onio’s SuperDOMA that banned same-sex marriage warned that “God’s design for marriage is under attack!” and urged its followers to gather outside the courthouse to pray on Wednesday at the same time of the rally. Only 20 showed up and Phil Burress was nowhere to be seen.
