Plaintiffs In Gay Marriage Suit Say Minds Changing

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Chesterfield County couple challenging Virginia’s gay marriage ban says they believe public opinion is changing in their favor.

Fifty-three-year-old Carol Schall and 52-year-old Mary Townley are plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed last summer in federal court in Norfolk. Schall says they experience no judgment or discrimination from their neighbors, but the law is a different matter. The two were married in California in 2008 and they have a teenage daughter, but their union is not recognized in Virginia.

Schall says they’re not asking for anything special — just the same rights and privileges afforded other Virginians.

Their lawsuit seeks to overturn a 2006 constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage.

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