LGBT activists protest for marriage rights in Chicago on Valentine's Day

Gay and lesbian couples in cities and towns across the country on Wednesday are using Valentine's Day to protest their lack of marriage rights. Some have organized demonstrations while others went to their local clerks' offices and demanded a marriage license.

In Chicago a Valentine's Day protest organized in part by the Gay Liberation Network began outside the county building at 4:30 p.m. and was followed by a march to Holy Name Cathedral, reports CBS2Chicago.com. Mayor Richard M. Daley and Cook County clerk David Orr are both in favor of same-sex marriage, but Orr has said that he is not allowed to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Activists argue that if the mayor and county clerk strongly backed the issue, then the fight for marriage equality could go to the courts. In November a referendum for an Illinois state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage failed because of lack of support. Twenty-five other states have added constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. (The Advocate)

NOTE: Only Arizona has so far beaten a ballot to ban same sex marriage, Illinois couldn't get enough signatures to put it on the ballot.