ASHEVILLE, North Carolina - Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples will request marriage licenses across the South - including Mobile - in January as part of the WE DO Campaign, a project of the Campaign for Southern Equality.

According to a press release, at approximately 12:30 p.m. Friday, LGBT couples will apply for marriage licenses in Mobile at the Mobile County Government Center at 151 Government St.

All of the couples applying for marriage licenses on Jan. 4 live in the Mobile area, including Cari Searcy and Kim McKeand.

The couple was married in California during 2008, before Proposition 8 banned same-sex marriages.

Family members, friends and neighbors will stand in support of Searcy and McKeand and other participating couples, according to the release.

“LGBT individuals and families live in every city and town across the South, yet do so as second-class citizens. The people taking part in the WE DO Campaign are standing up to say, we are equal, and discriminatory laws must change on the federal level,” Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, said in the release.

The purpose of the WE DO Campaign is to call for full equality under federal law for LGBT individuals and families.