TAMPA – Two Hillsborough County men celebrated their 19th anniversary together by applying for a marriage license at the county Records Department. “We thought it would be a fitting tribute to the life that we’ve lived together to try and obtain a marriage license,” Jarrod Scarbrough told WFTS Tampa Bay.

After their number was called, Scarbrough and his partner, Les Sewell, were told by a county employee, “The state of Florida does not recognize same-sex marriage, so I’m not going to be able to issue the marriage license,” Scarbrough recalled. “It would be illegal for me to issue the license, because it is Florida statute,” the clerk added.

The men told WFTS that they wanted “to put a face [to the] issue.”