(Mobile, Ala.) Sondra Scott and Jan Parker were married in Massachusetts after being together for 28 years.
Jan was at Sondra's side in the hospital as she battled cancer.
"Fortunately we were in an area where they didn't deny her as part of my family so she could be there at the hospital for me," said Sondra.
Kim McKeand and Cari Searcy were married in California, and now live in Mobile.
Kim is the legal parent of their son.
Cari says she would like to be.
"And he had to have open heart surgery when he was 3 years old," said Cari . "So during that time we ran into issue with me being able to administer his care."
Standing in their way, they say, is Alabama law. It's a law that prohibits same sex marriage, and recognition of such marriages from other states.
Today, both couples, backed by supporters from the group Southern Equality, and the We Do campaign set out to seek that recognition as they silently walked to the Mobile County License Commission.
It's something the groups are doing across the south.
Jasmine Beach-Ferrara of the Campaign for Southern Equality was among them.
"We're traveling across the south this month," she said, "taking action in small towns and larger cities, pushing for full equality under federal law and we'll keep pushing until we reach that goal."
Once inside, Sondra and Jan sat down to ask that their marriage be recorded in the state.
We can do that, said the clerk, but that's all we can legally do.
They were told to step to the next window.
Kim and Cari did just that, where their marriage certificate was entered into Alabama record.
But both couples know that's where it stops.
