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Gay Couples Get Hitched At Mock Weddings

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Jun 22, 2008 7:43 pm US/Mountain

Gay Couples Get Hitched At Mock Weddings

Reporting
Michelle Griego
DENVER (CBS4) ― In Colorado the constitution bans same sex marriages, but an event going on called PrideFest is offering some same sex couples the chance to exchange vows. It's something they hope to do legally some day in the state.

"We just got married. Apparently we're hitched, we have rings," a couple said. "It's a lot of fun and it also raises awareness for the fact that we can't legally get married and we don't have the same rights as everyone else."

"It would be wonderful if my partner could be married in the eyes of the law and in that right it's having the same responsibilities that other couples have too," lesbian activist Hope Wisneski said.

Wisneski and her partner have been together 11 years.

"We've owned a home for nine, we own two cars, we live in the suburbs and we also have a 1 and 1/2-year-old little boy," she said.

Wisneski carried her son, but it took many lawyers and a lot of money to make them both legal parents

"We do consider ourselves a married couple and the piece that's important to us is that our community considers us a married couple," she said.

Last week the State of California made it legal for gay marriage, a law some hope to see in Colorado.

"It's not about a community having special rights, it's about gay and lesbian couples being able to access the equal rights that other couples have," Wisneski said.

And while it may have been a publicity stunt, it could be good practice in case real wedding bells ring in Colorado.

"There's no point for us not to be able to get married if you find someone that you truly love and care for," a couple said.

There is plenty of opposition to same-sex marriage in Colorado. Colorado Spings-based Focus on the Family says marriage is about the needs of children.

"We believe that children do best in a home with a married mom and a dad and same sex marriage by definition deprives children of either a mom or a dad," Bruce Hausknecht with Focus on the Family said. "Two same sex adults do not equal a mom and a dad."

Colorado voters approved a ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in 2006.

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