It's the moment we've all been waiting for: California officials have officially made same-sex marriage official!
At 5:01 PM, clerks began issuing the state's first same-sex marriage licenses. And, as a proper institution, the ladies went first. Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who have been together 55 years, inaugurated the festivities in San Francisco, while Robin Tyler and Diane Olson did it up in Los Angeles county. The latter, pictured above, were the original plaintiffs in the case that led to California Supreme Court's decision to overturn the ban on gay marriage. HRC's Brad Luna, who is in San Francisco, estimates that about 500-700 people are outside city hall cheering every couple that crosses the threshold.
Not everyone's feeling so merry, of course. Luna also tells us there are some nasty wedding crashers brandishing signs reading "Stop Homo Marriage" and "Homo sex is a greater threat than terrorism." Must be a Sally Kern supporter.
More pics to come!
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Congratulations Phyllis and Del, I once saw your story in a film and it was heart wrenching.
Well, in defense of the haters, I've been out with some guys whose dicks should have been labeled Weapons of Mass Destruction.
A huge step in the right direction for all of us, but still a LOOOOONG road ahead. I love that some couples who are getting married are not asking for gifts, but donations to the campaign to fight the upcoming measue to redefine marriage in November. In the meantime, LOVE IS IN THE AIR!
Beautiful! Congratulations to all the happy couples, especially to Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 84,(together for more than 50 years!). Get married while you can people because there is a likely possibility of it being illegal again come November(hope I'm wrong) with Barack Hussein Obama on the ballot.
Now if I could just GET A DATE …
Mazel Tov.
This is fabulous! I am so happy for these folks! When I see photos like these, the happiness on their faces, the joy and comfort in their eyes, I am faced with one of those remarkable moments where I realize that it really is all about love. The bottom line is and always has been love, and to all those who stand in the way of it, nothing but karma will plague them.
I celebrate with all of you now-hitched homos :-)
There is a real threat of it being illegal again with morons like Churchilly voting for Grandpa McCain and his Merry Band of Bigots.
Triumph and the hate still goes on! I really cannot understand why all the hate mongering bigots are so frightened by people wanting to commit to one another. If gay marriage threatens their way of life one must ask exactly what does their way of life consist of – not love, not democracy, not freedom – sounds Unamerican to me their way of life.
Congratulations, California! This is wonderful!
"The blameless shall be avenged, but the seed of the opponents of same-sex marriage shall be utterly destroyed." (Psalm 37)
We have come such a long way to go as a community. The struggles of the future will be enough to engulf our future generations, but we can be proud – on this day, that our struggles, the legacies of our fore-fathers and fore-mothers have not been in vain. It is with this newly found, but well deserved right that I look onto the future – one in which I can hold my head high and be proud – to be alive, to be American, to be free, to be more than gay – to be me.
Congratulations Californians and Best Wishes from Pennslyvania
Best wishes from Ireland, too! This story was on very news show in the country!
Congrats from Massachusetts welcome, first there was one then there was two and hopefully many more, Some of us from Mass and some of us from Cal should visit and get married and start to squeeze the middle.
Congratulations to Californians, this is a wonderful day for you. Why do some people hate this so? What is so terrible about two people being in love?
Congratulations!
What wonderful pictures! ^^
That's a great step for our rights.
You Americans are very lucky!
Here in Italy it's totally different, gays are still a "strange thing", unknown and hated by the majority of people.
Best wishes! :)
Congratulations to Califorina Best Wishes from Washington and Oregon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Christopher, it's amazing how much like Churchill-y sounds like another poster by the name of francher12 on the blogs at Gay.Com. Wonder if they are one and the same?
Woof: Buy them a gift? You've got to be kidding. I don't buy gifts for sham weddings….
Dino: Apparently you're using your twink meth again. Forgot how to spell your state's name?
Alexa: There's nothing wrong with being in love. The reality with these queers hooking up is that it's now a fad. Just wait till the novelty wears off…..
AJ: I don't know where you got that translation of Psalm 37; it's not in my bible. Rather, given the blasphemy of gay marriage, the appropriate verse from Psalm 37 is: Verse 40: The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from their wicked ways and saves them, because they take refuge in him.
And, Freddy777: you're about as Jewish as Sammy Davis, Jr…
RPCV — how can you, as a gay man, not support gay marriage? Marriage equality sends a message to the straight world — namely, that our relationships are every bit as important to us as theirs are to them. Same-sex marriage quite literally gives us legitimacy, which is why Christians hate it so much.
Andy: As Dr. Gallant would say on the Hopkins HIV Forum, check the archives for the answer to this question. I've addressed it too many times to do it again.