SAME-SEX COUPLES SCHEDULED TO ENGAGE IN MARRIAGE COUNTER ACTIONS ACROSS KENTUCKY ON THE NATIONAL FREEDOM TO MARRY DAY OF EVENTS

On National Freedom to Marry Day, February 12, 2009, same-sex couples across the Commonwealth will request marriage licenses for same-sex couples at local County Clerk's Offices to raise awareness of the harms and impact the inability to marry causes on their families.

Kentucky Organizers:

* Kentucky Equality Federation
* Marriage Equality Kentucky
* GLASS at Bellarmine University
* commonGround at University of Louisville

Co- Organizers (national):

* Marriage Equality USA
* Join the Impact

Quoting Abraham Lincoln, Kentucky Equality President Jordan Palmer stated, "The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly."

"Whether we are married, domestic partnered, civil unioned or legal strangers under Kentucky law, all same-sex couples are denied the 1,138 federal rights of marriage," said Bellarmine University GLASS (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Society) President Kristina Thomas. "With the support of President Obama and with the growing sea change towards supporting protections for same-sex couples, we are hopeful that we can finally turn our attention to overturning the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), passed in 1996, and work together to uphold the American tradition of fairness and equality by ending marriage discrimination once and for all."

"Same-sex couples being denied marriage licenses will render visible the discrimination that is enforced every day. It is an affront to our basic dignity as fellow human beings when same-sex couples are turned away from the marriage counter, but it gives us the opportunity to tell our stories and show that we live in every community and want to honor and protect our families like everyone else," stated Marriage Equality Kentucky™ Treasurer Michael Hollingsworth. "Marriage discrimination is wrong and harms real-life families. All Americans deserve equal treatment under the law. The time has come."

"Kentucky Equality Federation and Marriage Equality Kentucky have partnered with the National Celebrant Foundation to perform 'commitment ceremonies' as well as marriage ceremonies in Kentucky," added Palmer. "Even if the Commonwealth will not currently recognize the relationship, they will be recognized in our community, by our life-partner, and in our hearts."

Kentucky Equality Federation began sponsoring a new grassroots group dedicated to overturning Kentucky's 2004 Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage and 'similar unions' last year, Marriage Equality Kentucky.