Wearing
everything from T-shirts to tuxedos and lavish gowns,
hundreds of same-sex couples rushed to county clerks'
offices throughout California to obtain marriage
licenses and exchange vows as last-minute legal
challenges to gay marriage failed.
All 58 counties
began issuing licenses Tuesday following an order from
the state's highest court.
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.''
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
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 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.
A recent Field
Poll showed that Californians favor granting gays the
right to marry 51% to 42%. 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.
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.'' (Lisa Leff, AP)
