Top News
Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004
San Francisco Officials Marry Gay Couples


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - In an open challenge to California law,
city authorities officiated at at least 15 same-sex weddings
Thursday and issued about a dozen more marriage licenses to gay and
lesbian couples.
Meanwhile in Massachusetts, lawmakers returned to the Statehouse
in search of the magic mix of words necessary to approve a ban on
gay marriage, a day after killing two compromise proposals that
would have offered the possibility of civil unions.
By midafternoon, jubilant gay couples were lining up under City
Hall's ornate gold dome and exchanging vows in two-minute
ceremonies that followed one after another.
The act of civil disobedience was coordinated by San Francisco
Mayor Gavin Newsom and top officials in the city considered the
capital of gay America.
``Today a barrier to true justice has been removed,'' the mayor
said in a statement.
The assembly-line nuptials began with longtime lesbian activists
Phyllis Lyon, 79, and Del Martin, 83, who were hurriedly issued a
married license and were wedded just before noon by City Assessor
Mabel Teng in a closed-door civil ceremony at City Hall. The two
have been a couple for 51 years.
About 30 couples crowded outside the San Francisco County
Clerk's office awaiting licenses, many arm in arm. One of the
women, wearing a white wedding dress and veil, encouraged couples
to shout out their names and how long they had been together.
``I understand there are wrinkles that need to be worked out,
but as far as I'm concerned, we will be married,'' said Molly McKay
as she and her partner of eight years, Davina Kotulski, stood at
the clerk's counter.
During one of the weddings, performed before TV cameras, the
vows were rewritten so that ``husband and wife'' became ``spouse
for life.''
No state legally sanctions gay marriage, and it remains unclear
what practical value the marriage licenses will have. The weddings
violate a ballot measure California voters approved in 2000 that
defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer had no comment.
A conservative group called the Campaign for California Families
called the marriages as a sham.
``These unlawful certificates are not worth the paper they are
printed on. The renegade mayor of San Francisco has no authority to
do this,'' said Randy Thomasson, the group's executive director.
``This is nothing more than a publicity stunt that disrespects our
state law and system of government itself.''
San Francisco officials insisted the licenses are legally
binding and would immediately confer new benefits in everything
from health coverage to funeral arrangements.
The gay marriages were timed by city officials to outmaneuver
the conservative group. The group had planned to go to court on
Friday to stop the mayor's announced plans to issue marriage
licenses to gay couples. But city officials struck first.
Lyon and Martin said after their brief ceremony that they were
going home to rest and did not plan anything to celebrate. The
couple seemed proud of what they had done.
``Why shouldn't we'' be able to marry? Lyon asked.
The mayor was not present at the morning ceremony but later
presented Martin and Lyon with a signed copy of the state
constitution with sections related to equal rights highlighted.
The two official witnesses were Kate Kendell, director of the
National Center for Lesbian Rights and former city official Roberta
Achtenberg.
The conservative group fighting gay marriage has also sued to
try to block California's domestic partner law, which then-Gov.
Gray Davis signed in September.
That law expands the rights of gay couples in areas ranging from
health coverage and parental status to property ownership and
funeral arrangements.

  ¶ 4:39 PM