Pat Hendrickson and Kate Lewis knew they had no shot of marrying on Valentine's Day. They knew that when they got to the counter at the Ventura County Government Center, they'd be told that in California there's no such thing as same-sex marriage.
But like a dozen other gay and lesbian couples turned away by the county clerk Tuesday, the two women from Thousand Oaks said they were willing to take a stand, even if rejection stung.
"It hurt to have somebody say to us that you are less than, that you are not a full citizen," said Hendrickson, 63, an Episcopal deacon who has been with her partner for eight years. "We don't understand what threat we pose to anybody. In a country that says we are equal, we need to be able to live that."
From Sonoma to San Diego, hundreds of gay and lesbian couples applied for marriage licenses and were turned down as part of a statewide campaign to shine a spotlight on efforts to legalize same-sex marriage.
About two dozen couples arrived at the Los Angeles County registrar's office in Beverly Hills to exchange wedding vows, only to be turned away. Same-sex couples also tried their luck without success in Norwalk, Santa Ana, San Diego and Riverside.
The gay-rights group Equality California has sponsored similar Valentine's Day operations for at least five years. But a representative said the issue took on greater urgency this year as opponents of same-sex marriage proposed ballot initiatives to amend the state constitution.
"We are being discriminated against based solely on our gender," spokeswoman Stephanie Wells said. "We can get a driver's license, we can get a business license but we can't get a civil marriage license."
The annual campaign has spurred a counteroffensive. The Campaign for Children and Families stopped at the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday for Day 5 of its Real Marriage Tour. The 11-city swing seeks to drum up support for a proposed ballot initiative that would limit marriage to between one man and one woman and roll back marriage-like benefits granted in recent years to domestic partners through a state registry.
"Valentine's Day has been hijacked and that's wrong," said Randy Thomasson, who heads the initiative VoteYesMarriage.com. "This is a day about love between a man and a woman. Marriage and Valentine's Day are both wonderful, good things but they need defense and protection."
