This Valentine’s Day is the third anniversary of that romantic weekend when San Francisco issued thousands of marriage licenses to same-sex couples.


While the California Supreme Court later ruled those marriage licenses void, this Valentine’s Day the sweet political protest of marriage inequality will continue, in another form. In Northern California, it’s apparently a nearly decade-old tradition for some county clerks to show their support for same-sex marriage on Feb. 14 by issuing certificates of inequality to gay and lesbian couples seeking marriage licenses, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.


This year, clerk Freddie Oakley in Yolo County will be one of those handing out the certificates to the would-be husbands and wives, which read in part: “I issue this Certificate of Inequality to you because your choice of marriage partner displeases some people whose displeasure is, apparently, more important than principles of equality.”


We suspect that the Independent Women’s Forum, which is busy trying to rescue Valentine’s Day from feminists, won’t find all this very heartwarming, but we’re touched.


This article was first published on Salon.com.