Major Jiminez, left, and Beau Chandler are shown outside the courthouse prior to Jiminez’s hearing on Tuesday morning. (Anna Waugh/Dallas Voice)
UPDATE: A clerk at the County Records Building again denied Mark Jiminez and Beau Chandler a marriage license Tuesday morning, following Jiminez’s dismissal of his previous two arrests from marriage sit-ins.
The couple requested the denial in writing and will pick up the letter tomorrow. They haven’t decided whether they will file a lawsuit or not but want the documentation “just in case we decide to take this to the next level,” Chandler said.
ORIGINAL POST: More than a year after his first arrest at the marriage license counter, local activist Mark “Major” Jiminez agreed to a conditional dismissal of his two cases Tuesday morning.
Jiminez and husband, Beau Chandler, were arrested for criminal trespassing last July after they refused to leave the County Records Building without a marriage license. Chandler’s case was dismissed last year after he completed community service.
Jiminez was arrested a second time for the same class-B misdemeanor charge in August. His cases had been postponed before eventually being combined. Jiminez was offered a lesser charge of disturbing the peace, a class-C misdemeanor, if he pleaded guilty. But he refused because he said he wouldn’t plead guilty to something he didn’t do.
The couple and a few friends gathered in front of the Frank Crowley Courts Building to protest before Jiminez’s 9 a.m. hearing. Jiminez took the conditional dismissal plea deal the district attorney offered. He had the choice to donate $500 to the North Texas Food Bank or complete 50 hours of community service.
Jiminez said he was pleased with the outcome because he wanted his two cases combined and a dismissal offered. He chose to complete the community service, adding that Marriage Equality USA and Resource Center Dallas has already reached out to have him volunteer.
“We’re satisfied,” Jiminez said. “I am, like Beau, happy that they are dismissing the cases and they’re not going on our records.”
After the hearing, Jiminez and Chandler headed to the County Records Building to apply for a marriage license again. The couple applied twice last year and in February with a proxy, making this their fourth time to apply.
“We’re just gonna let Texas know that we’re still interested in getting married,” Jiminez said. “And we told them, that we’d be back.”
While Jiminez said he couldn’t promise there wouldn’t be any more arrests, he promised Chandler he wouldn’t get arrested Tuesday because Chandler’s birthday is Wednesday.
But the sit-in format may no longer be the couple’s strategy. They are considering filing a lawsuit to challenge Texas’ constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
“We’re thinking about it because we can’t just continue to let them tell us no,” Jiminez said. “We’re never gonna go away until thy can give us our marriage license. ”
More photos below.
