Mayor 'marries' 13 gay couples to protest Ind. proposal

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Democratic mayor of this college town presided Thursday night over a mass wedding of 13 gay and lesbian couples.

The ceremony wasn't official or even legal but was meant as a protest against a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in Indiana.

"It's wrong to discriminate, whether you're a woman, black, Latino, have disability, or an elderly," said Nancy Kalina, who has been with her partner, Kim Davis, for 17 years. "To add that to the constitution just seems ludicrous."

Indiana already is one of 37 states, either in state law or a constitutional amendment, that specify marriages must be between a man and a woman.

In 2011, the Republican-dominated Legislature passed a bill to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriages and civil unions but must vote a second time to put the measure on a ballot so voters statewide can decide.

The participants in Thursday's marriage ceremony lined up across the stage at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater downtown. Some held bouquets while others pinned flowers to their chests.

A room full of supporters cheered as the life-size screen showed pictures of each couple, their names, and how long they had been together. Bruno Mars' I think I Wanna Marry You played in the background.

Together, they made their vows.

"By the power not yet vested in me, I now pronounced you partners for life," said Mayor Mark Kruzan, who was elected in 2003. The crowd gave a standing ovation, and some blew tiny bubbles into the air.

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The couples kissed, hugged and took pictures. Their friends congratulated them as if it were a real wedding.

"People ask us why we're doing this. … It's about equality and opportunity," said Kruzan, whose city of more than 80,000 about 55 miles southwest of state capital Indianapolis is home to the main campus of Indiana University. "History simply will not smile kindly upon those who advocated against equality. It's time that same-sex marriage be recognized by all."

Indiana legislative leaders will announce next week whether they will vote to send the proposed constitutional amendment to voters or wait after the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in on the issue this summer.

But it appears the Legislature is unlikely to vote on same-sex marriage this year because jobs, education and fiscal stability are taking priority.

For Davis and Kalina, it did not matter that the ceremony was not authentic, at least for now. They said they simply wanted to "put a face on gay marriage."

"So people can see someone who actually is a lesbian and feels she has the right to marry her partner after all these years," Davis said.

Other activists around the country have found different ways to protest last month.

In the Southeast, the Campaign for Southern Equality organized a We Do campaign in which dozens of couples sought marriage licenses in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. In Louisville, Ky., a Baptist minister and his partner were arrested for trespassing when they wouldn't leave the county clerk's office at closing time after they were denied a marriage license.

"It's shining a light that there are gay people all over the country, not just in New York or in San Francisco, ... who would like the opportunity to do that publicly in their hometown," Kalina said of the ceremony here.

The Bloomington, Ind., residents said they would love to get married in Indiana in front of friends and family.

They think that's only fair. And more important, they want to make a statement that just like any other straight couple, they deserve the rights that go with marriage.

"If I die, my Social Security would not go to her automatically because we're not married," Davis said, pointing at Kalina.