October marks 10 years since gay marriage became legal in North Carolina
CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Ten years ago, things were a lot different in North Carolina for same-sex couples. Marriage between those couples was not legal, and the thought of those marriages being legalized was enough to bring fear to people.
“This is a slippery slope,” said Mark Harris, then-pastor of First Baptist Church of Charlotte, in 2014. “We just need to know what could face us all in the very near future.”
But for many of those who issued marriage licenses, that legal reality was heartbreaking.
“It was incredibly sad turning down friends and family requesting marriage licenses, to be treated equal,” said Buncombe County Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger.
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Reisinger was the Register of Deeds in Asheville in 2014 and remains in that position to this day. The pictures that line the hallways at his office for Pride Month show the uncertainty of a specific day, Oct. 10, 2014, when people were uncertain of what would happen.
That day would become historic in North Carolina. But to get to that point, it took a lot of work.
In the months, weeks, and years leading up to that day in 2014, there were referendums like Amendment One, which voters approved, saying marriage was between a man and a woman.
There were lawsuits challenging referendums and decisions, along with rallies for and against same-sex marriage, but it was ultimately a decision that came down from Virginia that set the stage for what happened in North Carolina.
A couple in Virginia had filed suit against that state’s ban on same-sex marriage, which was ultimately ruled unconstitutional, which meant that North Carolina’s own ban was in jeopardy.
As people awaited the decision on that October day, some couples gathered at some Register of Deeds offices, particularly those in Asheville and Raleigh, in case a decision came down.
“You’ve got so many people in a room waiting for the announcement that they might be recognized and treated equally under the law,” said Reisinger. “So many of the couples that came to us weren’t young couples. So many that came to us were these older couples that were together for 40, 50 years.”
The decision came down late on a Friday.
Supporters in Asheville, led by the Campaign for Southern Equality, were telling the crowd about the wait for the decision when Reisinger interjected.
“Judge Cogburn has signed an order,” said Reisinger in 2014, raising both his fists in the air as the crowd at the office shouted and hugged one another.
Same-sex marriage was legal in North Carolina that day, some nine months before it became legal nationwide.
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Reisinger’s office and the Register of Deeds office in Wake County kept the offices open later to allow the couples to file for marriage licenses. There were even marriage ceremonies that happened immediately after on the steps of the office marking some of the first same-sex marriages in North Carolina.
Mecklenburg County would follow days later.
In an instant, things legally became very simple for so many couples.
“So, before marriage equality, lawyers had to get really creative on how to kind of grab what rights you could and cobble things together to protect your clients,” said lawyer Meghann Burke, who helped litigate the case for the Campaign for Southern Equality. “Once marriage equality was recognized, it was really simple. We could do step-parent adoptions.”
Reisinger, an ally for the LGBTQ+ community in Asheville, knows how big of a deal this was, and still is.
“It will still always be the greatest moment of my life, being able to tell a room full of people, activists, and incredible humans that same-sex couples would be allowed to get married,” he said.
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