When Roxy and Jordan Davis got engaged in 2009, Proposition 8, banning gay marriage in their home state of California, had recently passed. Instead of saying “I do,” both decided, “we won’t” until everyone had the right…

While it’s unclear how many couples made similar commitments, Stuart Gaffney, the communications director for Marriage Equality USA, said the stand taken by pairs like Roxy and Jordan didn’t go unnoticed or unappreciated.

“We have taken much encouragement from straight allies who have realized that the freedom to marry is not specifically a gay rights issue, it is a human rights issue,” Gaffney said.

And that was the point Roxy and Jordan set out to make. Instead of getting married, they registered for a domestic partnership, in hopes of demonstrating that a civil union does not come with the same perks of marriage.