**The Wood Word’s video coverage of this event can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnGu-1hXhx0
With the Supreme Court taking on two historic anti-gay legislatures, Prop 8 and Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), members of the Scranton community attended the “Light the Way to Justice” vigil at Courthouse Square Tuesday, March 26.
Prop 8, which was passed in 2008, says that California may only recognize marriage as between a man and a woman. Similarly, DOMA, passed in 1996 is a federal law that states marriage is between a man and a women.
With gay marriage now legal in nine states and Washington D.C., Prop 8 and DOMA are being challenged in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, March 27. Vigils have been going on across the country and on social media platforms to show support for marriage equality.
In Scranton, three Marywood graduate students, Nicole Hartung, Alishia Allehrucci, and Robin Vandervort, organized the downtown vigil to protest marriage inequality on the eve of the Supreme Court’s consideration of these cases.
“I think it’s really cool that Scranton held an event like this, to bring the whole community together,” said Tatim Brace, junior digital media major. “It’s really empowering.”
Brace was just one of the roughly 200 attendees at the hour-long rally, and one of the many Marywood students who came out to support the cause.
Sophomore art therapy major Carli Salvati also participated in the vigil.
“I decided to come out to this because I am gay and it’s really important to me that I stand up for my rights,” Salvati explained.
