Couple ready for same-sex marriage debate to be over
Updated: January 3, 2013
CHAMPAIGN -- Same-sex couples say they're ready for the wait to be over. Lynn Sprout and Kathie Spegal have been together for more than a decade and they want their special piece of paper.
The couple has participated in marches, parades and demonstrations always hoping for one thing, equal marriage rights. They say they knew it would happen at some point but never thought in their lifetime.
"It's like waiting for Christmas so you can open all the gifts," said Kathie Spegal. She is talking about the gift of marriage. A commitment she and her partner Lynn Sprout have always wanted but couldn't have.
"We should have the same right," said Spegal.
"I don't want anyone to ever tell me again that we are not family," said Sprout.
They met back in 2001. A few years later they had a Holy Union Ceremony. In 2011, Spegal and Sprout had a Civil Union Ceremony on the first day Champaign County started offering them.
"What's the problem, you know. If two people love each other and they want to spend their time together and want to be able to be together then why is it any skin off anybody else's nose," said Spegal.
If Illinois passes the marriage equality bill, it would be the tenth state to do so. Others, like Iowa, Connecticut and New York already allow gay marriage.
"And nothing happened. The sky didn't fall. Not everybody got divorced. Nobody moved out of the neighborhood. Everything was fine," said Spegal.
So Spegal and Sprout are hoping their next step will be down the aisle.
"We've been waiting for this for a long time," said Spegal.
"I think it's going to feel really, really great," said Sprout.
The two have seven children and sixteen grandchildren between them.
The couple has participated in marches, parades and demonstrations always hoping for one thing, equal marriage rights. They say they knew it would happen at some point but never thought in their lifetime.
"It's like waiting for Christmas so you can open all the gifts," said Kathie Spegal. She is talking about the gift of marriage. A commitment she and her partner Lynn Sprout have always wanted but couldn't have.
"We should have the same right," said Spegal.
"I don't want anyone to ever tell me again that we are not family," said Sprout.
They met back in 2001. A few years later they had a Holy Union Ceremony. In 2011, Spegal and Sprout had a Civil Union Ceremony on the first day Champaign County started offering them.
"What's the problem, you know. If two people love each other and they want to spend their time together and want to be able to be together then why is it any skin off anybody else's nose," said Spegal.
If Illinois passes the marriage equality bill, it would be the tenth state to do so. Others, like Iowa, Connecticut and New York already allow gay marriage.
"And nothing happened. The sky didn't fall. Not everybody got divorced. Nobody moved out of the neighborhood. Everything was fine," said Spegal.
So Spegal and Sprout are hoping their next step will be down the aisle.
"We've been waiting for this for a long time," said Spegal.
"I think it's going to feel really, really great," said Sprout.
The two have seven children and sixteen grandchildren between them.
Comments
"The two have seven children and sixteen grandchildren between them." DAA! Who fathered them? I believe in an Almighty God. I believe the Bible is the Word of God. I believe the Word is the same today as it was in the beginning. Their are many paths in life but, only one path to God. That path is through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus came to this earth to save the lost(sinner). What you two females do is up to you, but to be ordained before God Almighty, forget it. Your path down the marriage isle, whether or not Il. passes it, is a path to eternal damnation(hell). I am only repeating what the Bible says. It's your life, it's your choice. God does give us the choice to choose. Choose the right path!
tom n.
January 5, 2013 at 6:56 am
