Amanda married Ben, Bennett married Craig, and Amy married Christina.
The couples exchanged Ring Pops, not diamonds, and Hershey’s Kisses rather than real smooches.
UF Levin College of Law students gathered from noon to 2 p.m. for a “marry in” to protest the Defense of Marriage Act — an event sponsored by the student organization Outlaw.
In 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act was passed, defining marriage as a union strictly between a man and a woman.
Outlaw is a UF student group that works to inform people about the legal issues faced by members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Participants were able to symbolically get married and sign petitions that will be sent to Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., in hopes that the Defense of Marriage Act will come to a revote and eventually be repealed.
Amy Levenberg, a first-year law student and vice president of Outlaw, said she thinks the bill is hateful and goes against the American value of equality.
Levenberg “married” Christina Vilaseca, also a first-year law student.
“We’re actually on our honeymoon now,” Vilaseca said jokingly.
Karen Middlekauff, a first-year law student and president of Outlaw, said the organization married about 40 couples during the two-hour event.
She said about 20 of the couples were same-sex, while the others were heterosexual couples or friends who wanted to show their support.
One heterosexual couple celebrated their anniversary by getting “married.”
Bennett Ostroff, a second-year law student, said he is heterosexual but married his friend Craig Cox to show his support.
“I really believe that homophobia is the new racism,” Ostroff said.
