Plaintiff Tim Bostic, a college professor at Old Dominion University, opens up to the Norfolk-based Alt Daily  in advance of tomorrow’s federal court hearing on marriage equality:

What’s at stake is more than just dignity and personal liberties: legal marriage comes with parenting rights; rights to a partner’s life insurance and disability; and more esoteric protections, such as the right for partners to be tenants by entirety, which means that should one partner be sued, their shared home cannot be taken away.

Yet, this legal battle has put Bostic in a position to practice what he teaches, which is for social change. The outpouring of support from former students has been overwhelming.

“One of them said, ‘I was so proud to see your name in the paper,’” Bostic said. “‘You always taught us to make a difference, and that’s what you’re doing.’”

Originally London and Bostic were going to Maryland to get married. They told London’s lawyer, Robert Ruloff, about their plan. He had other ideas.
“I said, ‘No you’re not. You’re going to get married right here,’” remembered Ruloff, who is, for whatever it’s worth, a straight man from West Virginia. “‘We’ll fight it here. If you want to do it, let’s do it.’”