Same-sex marriage advocates in Florida are hoping the state follows the lead of the U.S. Supreme Court in not banning gay marriages.
And those advocates are taking to the Internet to do it. Activist group Equality Florida has established a website called "Imengaged.org" to recruit gay and lesbian couples to possibly go to court to sue the state over its ban on gay marriages.
“The response was overwhelming, with over 200 families signing up for this potential lawsuit in just the first 24 hours," said Stratton Pollitzer, deputy director of Equality Florida.
Last week the Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional. The law had denied federal benefits to married gay couples in the states and nation’s capital where same-sex marriages are legal.
Pollitzer, like many, believes the court’s decision to not ban same-sex marriages at the federal level opens the door for states, like Florida, to overturn its ban. In 2008, 61 percent of Floridians voted to amend the state constitution and ban gay marriages.
Father Ernest Biriruka, of Miramar, agrees with that majority, emphasizing that a child needs the authority of a father and tenderness of a mother.
"He or she cannot tell who is the mother and who is the father, it's going to be tragic for that person, so I don't know what kind of future society this will be in the United States," Biriruka said.
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Gay marriage advocates aren't sure yet if they will go to court to try and overturn Florida's ban, or put the item up for a vote to amend the constitution – again.
In describing the actions of the Supreme Court, Biriruka uses the word chaos.
"The good of the family is going to be jeopardized tremendously," he said.
Pollitzer uses a very different word – encouraging.
"Almost three-quarters of America now believes that marriage equality is inevitable and will be seen not in decades, but in the next few years coast to coast," he said.
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