Once jailed, gay couple gets marriage license

The Rev. Maurice "Bojangles" Blanchard and his partner, Dominique James, walked into Jefferson County Courthouse on Monday on much different terms than they did two years earlier.

The security guard who greeted them at the door was the same one who had helped a police officer escort them on their way to jail back then, when they had organized a "pray in" after being denied a marriage license.

As Blanchard and the security guard exchanged formalities Monday, all the guard said was, "Congratulations."

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A short time later, Blanchard and James walked out of the courthouse with their marriage license in tow.

"Equality feels real good," Blanchard said.

Blanchard and James were among the plaintiffs in Kentucky's gay marriage case, which ended last week with the Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples in all 50 states have the right to marry.

While the couple said they were excited they would now be able to enjoy the roughly 1,400 benefits that come with being legally married, they also acknowledged the men and women who will never have those rights.

"Obviously we are very glad and excited, but it's mixed feelings today," he said. "We are also thinking about all the couples who have passed away already and they never enjoyed this."

Shannon Fauver and Dawn Elliott, the lawyers who first represented Blanchard and James in their case against Kentucky, accompanied them to the courthouse Monday.

Elliott said they have received overwhelming support on social media since the case went to the Supreme Court and wanted to be there to support Blanchard and James on their achievement.

"There's not a lot of times that as an attorney you can sit back and watch the fruit of your labor and see them get married," she said. "It's going to be wonderful to sit back and watch the legal system work."

Blanchard has led the True Colors Ministry at Highlands Baptist Church since 2011. True Colors bills itself as the first "open and affirming" LGBT Baptist ministry in the South. In 2012, Blanchard was ordained as a Baptist minister.

Highlands Baptist opted out of the Southern Baptist Convention roughly a decade ago for differences that included wanting to be more open to the LGBT community.

Though many church leaders in Louisville have been vocal about their qualms with Friday's Supreme Court decision, Blanchard said he believes the nation's highest court was guided by God.

"I understand God's love as inclusive — radically inclusive — as opposed to other ministers who see it as exclusive," he said. "When you start talking about issues that go beyond tradition, people shut down. But I think God has been calling us to understand love as inclusive."

Lawyers, petitioners and the public will come together to celebrate the court decision at Marketplace Restaurant, 651 S. Fourth St., on July 11 at 7 p.m.

"It has been an incredible journey and we have never felt like God has left us at any time," he said. "It seemed impossible all the way through. It seemed like it was never going to happen, but it did. It just reminds us that God makes the impossible possible."

Reporter Roberto Roldan can be reached at (502) 582-4649. Follow him on twitter at @ByRobertoR