From DallasVoice.com
A new Summer of Love begins
By Lisa Leff - Associated Press
Jun 19, 2008 - 9:00:24 PM
Thousands flock to clerks’ offices for licenses as gay marriage becomes legal in California
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| George Takei |
SAN FRANCISCO — Serenaded by a gay men’s chorus, showered with rose petals and toasted with champagne, hundreds of tearful same-sex couples got married across California in what some are calling the state’s new Summer of Love.
Wearing everything from T-shirts to tuxedos and lavish gowns, they rushed down to county clerks’ offices Tuesday, June 17 to obtain marriage licenses and exchange vows on the first full day that gay marriage became legal in California by order of the state’s highest court. They were joined by jubilant crowds that came to witness the event.
George Takei, who played Sulu on the original “Star Trek” TV series, beamed as he and his partner of 21 years, Brad Altman, obtained one of the new gender-neutral marriage licenses — with the words “Party A” and “Party B” instead of “bride” and “groom” — at the West Hollywood City Hall. They are planning a September wedding.
“I see before me people who personify love and commitment,” a grinning Takei told the crowd.
The burst of gay weddings actually began on Monday evening, June 16 when a few counties extended their office hours past 5 p.m., the moment the May 15 California Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage took effect. On Tuesday morning, though, all 58 counties began issuing licenses, and the rush was on.
There were scattered demonstrations outside some offices and courthouses. About a dozen protesters stood across the street from the Sacramento County recorder’s office, carrying signs that read, “Marriage = 1 man + 1 woman” and “Resist Judicial Tyranny.”
Courts in Sacramento and San Francisco on Tuesday rejected separate last-minute bids by groups seeking to halt same-sex marriage.
Still, around the state, protesters were outnumbered by well-wishers. One conservative activist said that the effort to pass a constitutional amendment in the fall that would outlaw gay marriage again in California could fail if the opponents came on too strong.
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| Helen Zia, right, and Lia Shigemura are married by San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera on Tuesday, June 17, at San Francisco City Hall. The couple wore orchid leis from Shigemura’s home state of Hawaii. “This is the most meaningful day of my life. I’ve always wanted to get married,” Shigemura said. “I just never thought it’d be possible.” |
Some couples came from out of state. Unlike Massachusetts, the only other state to legalize gay marriage, California has no residency requirement for a marriage license. Many gay activists are likening the moment to the 1967 Summer of Love, when young people from across the country converged on California in what came to be regarded as the birth of the hippie counterculture.
In a shady plaza in Bakersfield, where the county clerk stopped officiating at marriages altogether rather than preside over same-sex ceremonies, newlyweds wearing Cinderella-style gowns and matching tuxedos were showered with rose petals while a photographer who set up on a park bench offered to snap wedding portraits.
Although some couples said they preferred to wait until after the election because they feared their marriages would be nullified at the ballot box, others said they wanted to make history, especially if the opportunity to get married could be lost.
A recent Field Poll showed that Californians favor granting gays the right to marry 51 percent to 42 percent. It was the first time in 30 years of California polling that the scales tipped in that direction.
In a sign of the growing political support for same-sex marriage, the Los Angeles City Council president, the mayor of Sacramento and at least two state lawmakers agreed to officiate at the weddings of staff members and friends.
San Diego County, typically a Republican stronghold, added four walk-up windows and assigned 78 employees to issue marriage licenses Tuesday, up from the usual 19. It issued 230 licenses, breaking its previous single-day record of 176 on Valentine’s Day 2005.
On the steps of San Francisco City Hall, a gay men’s chorus sang while supporters handed out cupcakes. Inside, Helen Zia, 55, and Lia Shigemura, 50, of Oakland, sang “The Chapel of Love,” their voices echoing through the marble halls. They wore orchid leis from Shigemura’s home state of Hawaii.
“This is the most meaningful day of my life. I’ve always wanted to get married,” Shigemura said. “I just never thought it’d be possible.”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 20, 2008.
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