VIDEO: The Alenier Family
The Alenier Family
"Marriage will give us the ultimate commitment to each other. We've taken every step that we can to commit ourselves to each other: we have a house together, we have a child together that we've adopted, and I even changed my last name to Alenier in 2010. And that's the closest we've been able to come to feeling like a married couple. But nothings going to replace that next step and that next level of commitment that marriage will give us. And after 8 years, we need that and we want that." - Melanie Alenier, plaintiff in the marriage equality lawsuit.
Melanie and Vanessa Alenier met in 2004 through mutual friends. They were friends for two years and in April 2006 they started to realize that there were sparks between them and they fell in love. Vanessa is an assistant manager for a trade show electrical contractor and Melanie is an insurance agent. They are currently living in Hollywood, Florida where they are raising their five year old son Ethan.
Vanessa and Melanie are fortunate enough to live in a community where they are treated as equals in the community. They want to get married in their home state so they can show their son the love and commitment they share and teach him that their love and commitment is no different than the parents of his friends at school.
Meet our other plaintiffs and watch their videos at www.ImEngaged.org/couples.
For ways you can Get Engaged in the fight for marriage equality in Florida, please visit www.GetEngaged.org.