US marriage struggle

Same-sex newlyweds and pro-marriage activists have spent eight days on the road to try to raise awareness of marriage rights in smaller US cities and marginal states.

Some of the 30 women and 17 men riding the bus had been married in San Francisco before their marriage licences were revoked.

We have experienced government recognition of our marriages, if only briefly, by the City of San Francisco and have had a glimpse of what full citizenship might be like, organiser and author of Why You Should Give A Damn About Gay Marriage, Davina Kotulski, said.

We are Americans and we should have the same rights as every other American.

But the bus tour did not receive wide support from the gay and lesbian communities in some of the cities they visited. The San Francisco Chronicle reported activists in Ohio and Utah did not return the group’s phone calls, or told them they would not endorse their rallies as they did not believe the bus would help their causes.

Several of the states unwilling to embrace the marriage bus were facing a state vote to ban same-sex marriage on Tuesday 2 November.

And other organisations like the Human Rights Campaign (which has campaigned hard for same-sex marriage) did not endorse the bus tour, claiming it was too close to an election for such strategies.

The bus stopped at 10 towns on the way to Washington.

The journey ended at Washington DC on National Coming Out day. Chrissy Gephardt, the lesbian daughter of former presidential candidate Dick Gephardt, spoke, calling the group agitators who would stand up for equality.

Opponents of gay marriage led by US president George Bush are trying to amend the US constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage.