Judge nixes same-sex marriages

Blanchard Williams and Don Hair plan to get married Saturday, so they stopped by the Richland County Probate Court on Thursday to apply for a marriage license.

Probate Judge Amy McCulloch denied their request; state law doesn’t allow two men to marry.

“I respect what you’re trying to do, and I respect your desires, but right now the laws of South Carolina do not allow it,” she said.

Williams, 30, and Hair, 36, were accompanied by three other same-sex couples applying for marriage licenses as part of Freedom to Marry Week. The eight, all affiliated with the S.C. Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement, expected to be turned down.

“No one else has to go through this much trouble just because they love each other,” said Hair, a Columbia retail manager.

The four couples’ attempt to obtain marriage licenses was part of a national effort to draw attention to the issue this week. The Massachusetts legislature is battling over the wording of a ban on gay marriage because the state Supreme Court in November ruled current law there doesn’t rule out same-sex marriages.

South Carolina politicians responded this week by introducing legislation to strengthen the state’s ban on same-sex marriages and close any loopholes that might have recognized gay couples married in other states.

It makes sense to Joe Mack, director of the office of public policy for the S.C. Baptist Convention.

“From our position, it’s a moral issue, and our guide is what’s in the Scripture,” he said. “The Scripture says (homosexuality) is a sin.”

Gay couples say they’re not fundamentally different from other couples — so they should be able to marry.

Williams and Hair met in a bar. Angela Wilson, 31, and Kathy LaLima, 23, found each other when they joined an organization at the University of South Carolina. Friends fixed up Candace Chellew-Hodge, 38, and Wanda Chellew-Hodge, 39, several years ago.

The Chellew-Hodges, who live in Sumter, committed to each other in 2001 in a ceremony they consider a wedding. Wilson and LaLima are engaged. Williams and Hair plan to go ahead with their ceremony Saturday at Metropolitan Community Church after a Freedom to Marry rally at the State House.

USC employees Ed Madden, 40, and Bert Easter, 39, have been together for nine years. Madden said he considers himself married to Easter. But Easter said it’s not that simple.

“We have a loving, giving relationship that’s the equivalent of being married,” Easter said. “But legally, we’re not.”

Thursday was the first time McCulloch has had to respond to license requests from same-sex couples in the six years she has been a county probate judge.

She said she knew the couples were coming because of media coverage, so she tried to accommodate them, offering doughnuts and coffee. Before the couples filled out the applications, she warned them they would be denied.

Later, she reminded them they could give themselves one marriagelike benefit by naming their partners as beneficiaries in wills and life insurance policies. Without a government-recognized marriage, gay partners can’t collect spousal Social Security benefits. They might not be allowed in a dying partner’s hospital room.

“I’m just glad she didn’t have a big ‘void’ stamp to put on our paperwork,” Easter said.

A fifth couple, unaffiliated with the other four, showed up Thursday a few minutes after the others. Patricia Noble, 56, and Ruth Reedy, 45, both of Columbia, expectantly filled out the license application.

McCulloch asked for their driver’s licenses, noted both were listed as female, and told them the state doesn’t allow same-sex marriages. Noble said she had heard about Freedom to Marry Week and thought she might have a chance.

“I was thinking, well, maybe we could slide in before they can really close it down,” Noble said.

Reach Holleman at (803) 771-8366 or jholleman@thestate.com