Longtime Couple
to Kick Off Gay Marriage in California

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon's nuptials at City Hall ignited the gay wedding spree that thrust San Francisco into the national spotlight in 2004.

Now the city plans a repeat of the ceremony when same-sex marriage becomes legal in California on June 16.

Mayor Gavin Newsom plans to officiate at the couple's wedding, just as he did for them in 2004. He said Monday that Martin and Lyon will be the only same-sex couple married at City Hall on June 16. The clerk's office will issue licenses for other couples beginning June 17.

Martin, 87, and Lyon, 84, are lesbian activists who have been together for more than five decades. They were plaintiffs in the California supreme court case that led to the state's legalization of same-sex marriage. (AP)