By Ashleigh Atwell

The struggle for marriage equality has been a lengthy one. It has seen its share of disappointments and setbacks but it continues to thrive with more than half of the country now allowing same-sex couples to wed and several others that have had their bans overturned and await appeal. Still, the faces of the fight for the freedom to marry are not diverse. Unless you are white, male, economically advantaged or some combination of the three, your story is seldom highlighted when this subject is discussed. Brittni Rogers and her wife, Brittani Henry, usher in some changes.

The couple made headlines when they filed a joint lawsuit with two other couples to have both of their names printed on their son’s birth certificate. A federal judge ruled in favor of the couple a mere weeks before their son was born in May. This victory has been a long time coming for the couple who has been together since 2008. They began thinking about starting a family in 2010 but didn’t initially consider taking legal action.

“We didn’t even think about it until she got pregnant,” Rogers told ELIXHER. “[Then we] thought about it for medical purposes — in case something went wrong and my wife is at work and they’re going to look at me as a legal stranger.”

What started as a personal matter soon became a cause for the couple. During a news segment for WPCO Cincinnati, Rogers told the reporter, “We’re not asking for Ohio to allow gay marriage. We’re already married. So that’s not an issue for us. We just want equal rights as heterosexual couples get.” (The couple had wed in New York.) She has since changed her tune and is fighting for friends and families across the country that have not secured their rights.

“The thing that we’re fighting for now is equality for everybody in Ohio,” said Rogers. “I looked at my friends and it’s not fair that I am walking around with a birth certificate with both of our names on it but their marriage is not recognized in the state of Ohio.”

The couple is also an example for members of the Black LGBTQ community that might not see marriage equality as a “Black” issue.

“It’s hard enough to be an LGBT couple but to add on the fact that we’re a Black LGBT couple, that’s an issue in of itself that we have to deal with,” said Rogers. “Racism, it exists. We have to look at the issues from both sides. That’s another reason we wanted to get out there. We’re the only African American couple on the case.” And when Black female same-sex couples are more likely to be raising children than their white and Latino counterparts, representation matters.

An appeals court in Ohio is still due to rule on state marriage equality ban. With a slew of bans being ruled unconstitutional, there is growing anticipation for a ruling by the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ashleigh is a writer, student and organizer based in Atlanta, GA. Her words have appeared in various publications including For Harriet, BlackandMarriedwithKids.com and Atlanta Black Star. Ashleigh has been writing and blogging for six years and AnotA is the one that stuck and it has exceeded her expectations with over 51,000 views and shout outs in Clutch Magazine and XoJane. As the blog approaches its second anniversary, Ashleigh hopes to keep the momentum going with new content and other related projects. When she isn’t writing on the train, she is nurturing BlackOUT, the LGBT organization for students of color at Georgia State and being a bomb ass waitress.