A lesbian was arrested Thursday in
Winston-Salem for protesting North Carolina's gay marriage ban,
Amendment One.
Mary Jamis, 52, of Mocksville refused
to leave a government office after she was denied a marriage license
with her partner. Jamis and Mary Lea Bradford, a gay rights ally,
were carted away after they blocked the entrance to the marriage
license office and refused to leave.
The act of civil disobedience was part
of the Campaign
for Southern Equality's We Do campaign.
The event included nine gay and lesbian
couples who each requested a marriage license but were refused
because North Carolina law prohibits gay couples from marrying.
Amendment One, which was approved by voters on Tuesday, strengthens
the law by defining marriage as a heterosexual union in the North
Carolina Constitution.
“We cannot issue you a marriage
license because it is not allowed under North Carolina law,” Brent
Morin, 36, and his partner Gerald Morin, 42, of Winston-Salem were
told when they presented their completed forms.
The women were charged with
second-degree trespassing and released on their own recognizance, the
AP reported.
We Do first launched last October in
Asheville, considered one of North Carolina's most progressive
cities. During that protest, 20 gay couples requested marriage
licenses and two women who refused to leave were carted away in
handcuffs and charged with second-degree trespassing.