California Officiates Hundreds Of Same-Sex Marriages
Same sex couples have wasted no time planning their weddings, getting their marriage certificates, and exchanging their vows. 58 counties in California have already started to hand out licenses after the state’s highest court approved gay marriage.
San Diego County, typically a Republican stronghold, added four walk-up windows and assigned 78 employees to issue marriage licenses, up from the usual 19. It issued 230 licenses on Tuesday, breaking its previous single-day record of 176 on Valentine’s Day 2005.
At the West Hollywood City Hall, George Takei — who played Sulu on the original “Star Trek” — 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.” They are planning a September wedding.
“I see before me people who personify love and commitment,” a grinning Takei told the crowd. He flashed the Vulcan hand salute from “Star Trek” and, in a twist on the Vulcan greeting from the TV series, said: “May equality live long and prosper.”
There were scattered demonstrations outside some offices and courthouses, and courts in Sacramento and San Francisco rejected separate bids by groups seeking to halt same-sex marriage. “It’s something to just pray about. It’s not a time to be joyful,” 16-year-old demonstrator Juliya Lyubezhanina said as she watched dozens of balloon- and rainbow flag-carrying couples.
One conservative activist said an effort to pass a constitutional amendment in the fall that would outlaw gay marriage again in California could fail if opponents came on too strong. “The major media would love to see us engage in fierce protests and hostile demonstrations of outrage against the licensing of same-sex `marriages,’” said Ronald Prentice, chairman of the ProtectMarriage.com coalition. “Our battle is not against the same-sex couples who are pursuing the opportunity to `marry’ granted them by the activist judges on the California Supreme Court.”
Although some couples said they preferred to wait until after the election because they feared their marriages would nullified at the ballot box, others said they wanted to make history, especially if the opportunity to get married could be lost.
“There’s a window, and we want to take advantage of that window, because who knows what’s going to happen in November,” said Jay Mendes, 40, as he and his partner of three years, Vantha Sao, 22, waited to obtain a marriage license in West Hollywood.