Gay and lesbian couples in Buncombe County can apply for marriage licenses — although they won’t be approved any time soon.
Last week, the Buncombe County Register of Deeds, Drew Reisinger, started accepting marriage license applications from same-sex couples in light of the Supreme Court’s June decision to strike down the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
But in May of last year, North Carolina citizens approved a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in the state. Buncombe County was one of only eight N.C. counties that voted against the amendment.
Though marriage license applications issued to same-sex couples in Buncombe County cannot be approved, for groups such as the Campaign for Southern Equality — an LGBT advocacy group — the move by Reisinger marks a big step for same-sex marriage in North Carolina.
The Asheville-based organization has spearheaded the “We Do” initiative since 2011. The initiative encourages same-sex couples to apply for marriage licenses in their hometowns across the South in an effort to increase visibility for gay marriage.
The group started a new initiative Tuesday encouraging North Carolina gay and lesbian couples who had legally married in other states to register their marriage licenses locally.
“This makes the sixth time that we’ve had couples apply for licenses in Asheville,” said Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the campaign. “This was the first time the applications have been accepted, and we see it as a big step forward.”
Same-sex couples have previously not been able to apply for marriage licenses in the state. As of Tuesday, 22 couples had applied in the county.
“Personally, I denied several close friends’ marriage licenses,” Reisinger said. “These folks are good, upstanding citizens who aren’t legally recognized because of their sexual orientation. It was a fairness issue for me, really.”
