First gay bride in Montgomery, Ala. camped overnight with a sprained ankle
LatestThe first same-sex newlyweds married in Montgomery, Alabama, this morning camped out overnight outside the courthouse—with one of the brides still wearing a brace on her leg recovering from a sprained ankle.
Tori Sisson, 24, and Shanté Wolfe, 21, arrived on Sunday evening to set up their tent and then camped outside the Montgomery County Courthouse overnight under rain and temperatures that dropped below 50º degrees.
But Sisson says she just couldn’t wait any longer.
“We had a box in the tent and I elevated my leg,” Sisson told Fusion during a telephone interview.
Early Monday morning—despite a last-minute bid from the attorney general to prevent it—many Alabama courthouses began granting same-sex marriages following a January ruling by a federal judge. The U.S. Supreme Court declined the attorney general’s move to halt the marriage, though some counties have reportedly violated the court’s ruling and refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, according to Human Rights Campaign.
Sisson walked out of the courthouse giving a thumbs up while she proudly held her marriage license.
But the celebration is bittersweet.
“While our marriage is recognized, there are still no explicit statewide laws that prohibit workplace or accommodations protections,” Sisson wrote in a blog entry penned on the Human Rights Campaign website. “We could go home today and find an eviction notice on our door. Justice is not yet for all, but today proves that we’re getting closer.”
Alabama is one of 13 states in the nation that allow same sex marriage but do not extend anti-discrimination laws for LGBT people.