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Gay Couples Rush To Altar

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By JESSE McKINLEY

The New York Times

Published: June 17, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - With a series of simple "I do's," gay and lesbian couples across California began the state's court-approved and potentially short-lived experiment with same-sex marriage on Monday, the first of what is expected to be a crush of such unions in coming weeks.

The weddings began in a smattering of locations across the state at exactly 5:01 p.m., the first minute allowed under last month's decision by the California Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage. Many more ceremonies will be held today when all 58 counties will be issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

In San Francisco, Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 84, were the first - and only - couple to wed, amid a throng of news media and well-wishers at city hall.

Their union marked a triumph of love, endurance and a pioneering commitment to gay rights spanning half a century.

Their initial kiss came when Dwight Eisenhower was president. They first said "I love you" in an era when most Americans couldn't fathom two women as a committed, sexually active couple.

For many years, they couldn't hold hands or embrace on the street. They lived in fear of being outed.

But Monday, as they took their vows as wife and wife and one of the first same-sex couples married in California, the public scrutiny had turned from bitter to oh-so-sweet.

More Happy Couples Expected

Janice Atkinson, the Sonoma County clerk, said her office was to stay open late for the rest of the month to accommodate what she expected would be a heavy load of same-sex weddings. On Sunday, Atkinson and staff members were at a gay pride celebration in Sonoma handing out applications for marriage licenses to prospective newlyweds.

"We're expecting some very happy couples," she said. "And a lot of media."

The selection of Martin and Lyon as San Francisco's first same-sex couple was symbolic; the couple was wed here in 2004, when the city broke state law by issuing more than 4,000 marriage licenses and conducting weddings in City Hall. Those marriages were later invalidated by the state Supreme Court.

On May 15, however, the same court struck down the two California laws that prohibited such unions, opening the door for California to becomes the second, and largest, American state to legalize same-sex marriage. Massachusetts did so in 2004, and more than 10,500 couples have wed there.

Same-sex marriage has been hotly contested nationwide and state by state in the courts and at the ballot box, and California is no exception. Voters here will decide a ballot measure in November that would effectively overturn the court's decision by defining marriage as "between a man and a woman."

Most States Have Legal Barrier

Forty-four states already have some sort of legal barrier - either a law or constitutional amendment - barring such unions. In 2004 alone, 13 states passed ballot measures banning same-sex marriage.

This year, however, supporters have found encouragement in both the California Supreme Court decision and in a subsequent order by Gov. David A. Paterson of New York to force his state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. The California court also has rebuffed several challenges to its May 15 decision made by two conservative legal groups and a collection of Republican attorneys general who fear that the marriages will cause legal challenges to be brought in their own states.

One legal challenge filed last week by the Liberty Counsel, a group based in Florida that wants the California Court of Appeal to halt the weddings to allow the state Legislature time to work out discrepancies in marriage law created by the state Supreme Court's decision.

Mathew D. Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said Monday's ceremonies "make a mockery of marriage."

"Marriage has traditionally been known, across continents and all geographical regions, as between a man and a woman," said Staver, who is 51 and married. "Marriage between the same sex may be some sort of union, but it's certainly not marriage."

There has also been some local opposition to the ceremonies. In rural Kern County, north of Los Angeles, the county clerk has canceled all weddings performed by her office, a position she took after consulting with the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona legal group that argues against marriage for gay men and lesbians. Weddings at the county clerk's office - long an affordable, no-frills option for couples - have also been called off in Butte County, north of Sacramento, the state capital.

Information from the Los Angeles Times was used in this report.

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