[ PrideAgainstPrejudice.com ] [ History ] [ Alabama ] [ Strawser v. Strange ] → Plaintiffs Gary Wright II and Brandon Mabrey
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Strawser v. Strange
Gary Wayne Wright II and Brandon Mabrey
Named Plaintiffs Gary Wayne Wright II and Brandon Mabrey have been in a committed, loving relationship for eighteen years and have lived together in Alabama for six years. Plaintiff Wright served in the U.S. Navy and was honorably discharged under the federal government’s now-repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy when he was asked to reveal his sexual orientation and admitted that he is gay. Since that time, the couple have fought together to receive veteran’s benefits and coverage for Wright, including coverage for treatment for a muscular disorder that leaves him dependent on a wheelchair. They wish to marry in order obtain legal recognition for their family legal and to declare their commitment to each other before their loved ones and community. Each day that they are not permitted to be married, they experience uncertainty about whether they will be treated as family members in the event of an emergency. After this Court declared Alabama’s exclusion of same-sex couples from civil marriage unconstitutional, the couple drove to the probate office in Marshall County, the county in which they live, to obtain a marriage license. When they arrived, they were told that the Marshall County Probate Judge refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, although he would continue to issue marriage licenses to couples of different sexes. Plaintiff Wright visited the Marshall County Probate Judge’s Office again on March 2, 2015, to obtain a marriage license, and a clerk told him that the probate judge would no longer issue marriage licenses to anyone. On March 5, 2015, Plaintiffs Wright and Mabrey called Defendant Russell’s office in Baldwin County and were told that while Defendant Russell is issuing marriage licenses to opposite-sex couples, he is not issuing licenses to same-sex couples.
From Doc #76 - Exhibit A
Update: Just as many opposite-sex marriages fail, after 24 years together Gary and Brandon were divorced in December of 2019.