tefaruary 20. 2004
19
I J ? r e n e w s
Mayor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, had sat in
the U.S. House of Representatives as a guest when
President Rush delivered his State of the Union
address in January. He seethed at Bushs remarks
on same-sex marriage.
Back in San Francisco, on Newsom’s direc
tion, the wording on marriage licenses was
changed from “bride” and “groom” to “first appli
cant" and “second applicant.” California had
adopted model gender-neutral marriage language
in the 1970s, as had many other states, hut that
was changed hack when anti-gav zealots pushed
through Proposition 22 in 2000 to ban same-sex
marriage. The city’s lawyers believe the equal
protection section of the state constitution ren
ders Prop. 22 invalid and justifies their issuing
marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Shortly before n m n Feh. 12, San Francisco les
bian icons Del Martin, 83, and Phyllis Lyon, 79,
became the first couple granted a marriage license
in City Hall. It was Just in time for the pair to cel
ebrate their 51st year together, on Valentine’s Day.
Thi :ir celebratory photo was splashed across the
front page of ! he San Francisco Chronicle, and the
flcxxlgates opened. Gay and lesbian couples, many
with kids in row, rushed to City Hail to get married.
Many of them had been together for decades.
Two groups of homophobes went to court
Feb. 1 3 seeking an injunction to stop the mar
riages. judges denied both requests Feb. 17 and
set later hearing dates.
The mayor’s planning paid off: A window of
opportunity remained open. He announced
that the city bureau would stay open during the
long weekend to conduct marriages, and gay
couples lined up by the hundreds.
“We normally do about 20 to 30 couples a day,
but we’re doing about 50 to 60 an hour,” said
Mabel Teng, San Francisco’s assessor-recorder,
Openly gay M assachusetts state Sen. Jarrett
T. Barrios cited the “ basic hum an rights”
that would be denied to his family if a
constitutional am endm ent passed
who supervises that office.
She began turning away cou
ples Feb. 14 when it became
apparent the office could not
handle the load and asked
them to come back Feb. 16.
Thousands would wed
before the weekend was
through.
Gavin Newsom
“This is a Valentine’s Day
weekend for the history Nxiks,” said Jon David
son, an attorney with Lambda Legal, which
vowed to defend the marriages in court. “The
long lines outside city offices all day show that
lesbian and gay couples need the protections
marriage provides."
Gay conservative Andrew Sullivan wrote on
his blog: “Something is happening out there.
Instead of begging for the basic right to marrv,
gay couples are now demanding it. This will
alter the debate...and when the religious right
try to strip us of those marriages, and force us
back into second-class status, then we will see
something else: resistance.”
hile most gay men and lesbians were elat
ed bv scenes from the marriages being
played out in San Francisco, that reaction was
not universal.
Openly gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank. D-Mass.,
found out about the plans ahead of time when
Newsom shared them with a few California polit
ical leaders. According to the Chronicle, the vet
eran gay congressman called the mayor and told
him to “drop the idea— the time wasn’t right.”
A reported pending endorsement of the Fed
eral Marriage Am endm ent by Bush again failed
to materialize, as predicted by social conserva
tives. The leading Democratic presidential con
tender, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., contin
ued to do his own shuffling on the issue, sug
gesting his position on the Massachusetts
amendm ent might depend on the final language
that is proposed. He remains opposed to the
Federal Marriage Amendment.
Political talk show host Bill M aher wrote in
the Feh. 14 Globe: “T he greater shame in this
story goes to the Democrats, because they
d o n ’t believe that homosexuality is an ‘abomi
n atio n ,’ and therefore their refusal to endorse
gay marriage is hyptxrisy. T he right are true
believers, but the Democrats are merely pre
tending that they believe gays are not entitled
to the same state-sanctioned misery as the rest
of us. T he Democrats’ position doesn’t come
from the Bible, it’s ripped right from the latest
poll, which says that most Americans are
against gay marriage.’
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B o r R o e h r is a free-lance reporter based in
Washington, D .C .
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