Gay Couples Rush to Get Married in California

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer

County clerk offices opened their doors Tuesday to hundreds of gay and lesbian couples with appointments to secure marriage licenses and exchange vows on the first full day same-sex nuptials were legal throughout California.

Yey!

From San Diego to Eureka, couples readied their formal wear, local licensing clerks expanded their staffs and conservative groups warned of a backlash as the nation's most populous state prepared to join Massachusetts in sanctioning gay unions.

In San Francisco, a gay men's chorus was singing on the front steps, where a party atmosphere was lit up by rainbow flags and supporters handing out cupcakes to happy couples.

You don't see this for straight marriages. They know how to have a party!!!!

Helen Zia and Lea Shigemura sang "The Chapel of Love" as they walked to the city attorney's office to get married. The couple, clad in beige jackets and slacks, exchanged vows with Zia's mother by their side.

"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."

Unlike Massachusetts, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2004, California has no residency requirement for marriage licenses. Many couples are expected to head west to wed.

This is going to be a huge economic boost to California. Thousands of gay couples will flock to California to get a marriage certificate. That means hotels will be full, flower shops will sell out, and marriage planners will be booked. Not to mention what the state will receive in taxes now that tens of thousands of people will be newly married.

The May 15 California Supreme Court ruling that overturned the state's bans on same-sex marriage became final at 5:01 p.m. Monday, and clerks in at least five counties extended their hours to mark the occasion.

Already, dozens of same-sex couples have seized the opportunity to make their relationships official in the eyes of the law. They included actor and gay rights activist George Takei, who arrived with his longtime partner, Brad Altman, at West Hollywood City Hall on Tuesday morning to get their marriage license.

"Today we are all here to give flesh and blood reality to that ruling. We are going to make history," said Takei, who played Sulu in the 1960s "Star Trek" television series. "Congratulations to all of us and may equality live long and prosper."

Every county was required to start issuing new gender-neutral marriage licenses Tuesday with spaces for "Party A" and "Party B" where "bride" and "groom" used to be.

As couples prepared to marry at the Contra Costa County clerk's office Tuesday morning, three opponents of gay marriage from the Westboro Baptist Church picketed outside, carrying signs with sayings such as "God is your enemy."

Intolerance is your friend. Just because your book says homosexuality is wrong doesn't mean it's evil. Go picket in front of alcoholics' houses. They create more damage to society than gays and lesbians.

Members of the sect are most often seen at military funerals in demonstrations claiming U.S. combat deaths are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

This makes me giggle. I wonder how in the blue blazes they made THAT connection. Instead of saying it's God's punishment, say it's the voter's punishment for electing President Bush into office.

The protesters were easily outnumbered by about three dozen supporters of gay marriage, who held signs that read "Hate is not a family value" and "My marriage is not threatened by theirs, why is yours?" Police vehicles lined up near the demonstrators.

Yes, I would like to know how homosexual marriage tarnishes heterosexual marriages. And please don't pull out the Bible looking for Chapter and Verse. I want your own reason.
My guess is that they don't want gay marriages in churches. That's fine, the courthouse will do just fine for a lot of people.

This is an excerpt from another news article:

By the time Newsom presided over Martin and Lyon's new marriage on Monday, the battle lines for the fight in the fall had begun to form. Cardinal Roger Mahoney, the head of the archdiocese of Los Angeles. "The meaning of marriage is deeply rooted history and culture, and has been shaped considerably by Christian tradition. Its meaning is given, not constructed. When marriage is redefined so as to make other relationships equivalent to it, the institution of marriage is devalued and further weakened."

The ritual of marriage was performed long before the Christian Church was formed. To automatically identify it with the Church is blatantly arrogant on their part. The only type of marriages that are recognized by the United States are mainstream religious or court given marriages. I'm pretty sure Wiccan marriages are even binding by U.S. law.

This is taken from Wikopedia:

The first recorded use of the word "marriage" for same-sex couples also occurs during the Roman Empire. A number of marriages are recorded to have taken place during this period. In the year 342, the Christian emperors Constantius and Constans declared that same-sex marriage to be illegal. In the year 390, the Christian emperors Valentinian II, Theodoisus and Arcadius declared homosexual sex to be illegal and those who were guilty of it were condemned to be burned alive in front of the public.

From the early Christian era marriage was thought of as primarily a private matter, with no religious or other ceremony being required. Prior to 1545 Christian Marriages in Europe were by mutual consent, declaration of intention to marry and upon the subsequent physical union of the parties. The couple would promise verbally to each other that they would be married to each other; the presence of a priest or witnesses was not required. This promise was known as the "verbum." If made in the present tense (e.g. "I marry you"), it was unquestionably binding; if made in the future tense ("I will marry you"), it would constitute a betrothal, but if the couple proceeded to have sexual relations, the union was a marriage. One of the functions of churches from the Middle Ages was to register marriages, which was not obligatory. There was no State involvement in marriage and personal status, with these issues being adjudicated in ecclesiastical courts.

On Monday, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who helped start the series of lawsuits that led the court to strike down California's one-man-one-woman marriage laws, presided at the wedding of Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 83.

Newsom picked the couple for the only ceremony Monday in City Hall to recognize their 55-year relationship and their status as pioneers of the gay rights movement. More than 650 same-sex couples have made appointments to get marriage licenses in San Francisco before the end of the month.

55 years in waiting to get married. That's a shame.

Newsom called officiating the wedding "this extraordinary and humbling gift." After the mayor pronounced Martin and Lyon "spouses for life," the couple kissed, then emerged to a crowd of well-wishers who showered them with rose petals.

The celebrations are tempered by the reality that in a few months, Californians will go to the ballot box to vote on an initiative that would overturn the high court ruling and again ban gay marriage.

Once they see California's economy perk up, I'm sure the initiative will stand.

On Monday, three lawmakers and a small group of other same-sex opponents gathered outside the Capitol to criticize the Supreme Court decision. They urged voters to approve the ballot measure.

"This is an opportunity to take back a little bit of dignity ... for kids, for all of us in California," Republican Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa said. "It really disturbs me that the will of the people was overridden by four members of the Supreme Court."

It disturbs kids to see people happy? What part of a nasty divorce of two Christian hetero couple isn't disturbing to kids. Maybe it's better to have two moms in the house.

In both San Francisco and Beverly Hills, where two women became the first same-sex couple in Los Angeles County to marry legally, small groups of protesters waved signs with sayings like "Repent or Perish," but they were outnumbered by supporters waving rainbow-striped flags.

Homosexuality is a choice, not a disease. I'm sure these same people were waving the same signs when inter-racial marriages took place years ago.

Groups that oppose same-sex marriage have pursued several legal avenues to stop the weddings. On Monday, just hours before the ruling went into effect, a conservative legal group asked a Sacramento court to order the California agency that oversees marriages to stop issuing gender-neutral marriage licenses.

Oh My God! This would mean that it's ok for people to admit they have homosexual desires! It's a threat to everything society stands for! Where have our morals gone?!
Our morals went out the window after the priest/choir boy scandals of last decade.

A hearing was set for Tuesday.

A UCLA study issued last week estimated that half of California's more than 100,000 same-sex couples will get married over the next three years, and 68,000 out-of-state couples will travel here to exchange vows.

Money, Money, Money!

I've also seen people accuse defenders of gay rights as "gay lovers." This reminds me of the time around the civil rights movement where whites that encouraged the equality of blacks were branded "nigger lovers." Yes, I typed it out for shock value, not because I wanted to say it. To my eyes these two labels are one in the same. Are we on the brink of having a sexual orientation war? What lessons can we learn from the mishandling of the African American Civil Rights Movement and apply to the upcoming Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights Movement?

The Most Wonderful Gift

Today ended a most eventful weekend in my family. Today, we celebrated my mother's birthday. While I won't give away her age, I will say she's getting older. And as we know as you get older, things don't work as well as they did before . . . not without some help anyway. However, my brother and I did something very special for my mother on her birthday.

But first -- I'll have to set the scene. (I heard that! Don't swear at me!)

My mother has been stuck in the house for the last couple weeks because of the breakdown of systems I mentioned earlier. Both her knees have arthritis. The received a cortizone injection in the one that was swelling the most a week ago. She strained her rotator cup in her left shoulder along with locking it up, so she has almost no movement in it. She can't walk with her friends around the block. She can't go to her sewing group and chat it up with the ladies. Suffice it to say, she can't do much.

I am blessed with a tightly knit family. We call each other often to check up on each other. But calls from each other are always accepted and enjoyed. So when my brother called me up last Monday, I thought it would be another "How are you? How are classes? Now I'm going to complain about my in-laws." But no. He surprised me.

"What's your thought about me flying down this weekend for Mom's birthday?"

Are you kidding?! It would be great!

And that got the ball rolling. It also started a small game of deception and a string of little white lies -- but we can look over that.

Previously, the Florida relatives had all agreed to meet up at my parents place on Sunday to throw a little birthday party for my Mother. All that week, my parents were anxious to know whether I'd be coming down. I led them along with -- "Well, I don't know with all the home work I'm going to be doing. Can I call you later in the week?" Of course, by that time I've already received the flight information from my brother, and have pre-planned my homework around that schedule. Finally, I think it was Thursday when I said -- "I think I can spend the weekend with you. Mind if I come down Saturday?" So, the plan was set. And the best part -- no one knew.

My brother's flight was scheduled to arrive at 10:30 pm Friday night. However bad weather and a slight detour postponed his arrival two hours. We didn't get to sleep until 2 am. He bunked up on my couch; not the most comfortable thing in the world to sleep on.

We got ourselves ready and got out the door by 9:30 am in the morning, which was quite a feat since I slept terribly that night. We made out way down the interstate to our parents' house. My brother called them while we were driving and told them that he was going out for a bike ride and that is was seasonably cool. What a son; lying to his mother.

In short. They were floored. They were expecting me to get out of my car. They weren't expecting a second body to get out of it. They even thought I had brought down one of my room mates because they didn't recognize my brother's hair cut. The look of genuine shock on my Dad's face was exciting since, we've never really shocked him like this before. When my brother walked into the house, Mom's expression was a mix of in credulousness and shock. She was brought to tears when he helped her to her feet and wrapped him up in a big hug.

She didn't need any presents for her birthday. She had both her boys.

Professional Attire?

I'm going to start this off with a disclaimer:

I am a guy. I am built with an eye toward sexual things. Give a guy a flash of skin, and he'll start drooling like a blonde looking at something shiny.

Having said that, I'll delve into a little story and then to my point. Or, you can skip over these paragraphs and go straight to the point. I don't care.

I was turning in my rent check today to the leasing office of my apartment complex. Usually, there's a receptionist behind the desk that flashes a smile and the requisite, "How may I help you?". However, today, there was this college-age girl sitting behind the desk, intently fiddling with something on her computer screen. The screen temporarily blocked my view of her since its so huge. But as I approached the desk to fork over my check, I was struck at her state of attire.

She was dressed in a blue top and black pants. That I'm fine with. She had a professional demeanor. That I'm fine with too. What I'm not fine with was the fact that her chest was being pushed out of her low-cut neckline top. While, being male, I'm not objecting, per se. I'm objecting to her lack of self image and professional projection.

For a while now, I've heard women's groups lobbying for equality in the workplace. These professional women project themselves well, and effectively neuter themselves in suits and conservative dresses. This woman (girl) hasn't grown up yet to adequately portray herself in a professional manor. She's still a high school girl expressing her sexuality. And what better way then to have your boobs practically falling out.

There could be lots of reasons for her to dress this way. She's naturally well endowed, so she didn't have a choice. Her clothing options were limited. She didn't have anything conservative in her closet.

Maybe it's something wrong in the way I look at people. Maybe I am too conservative. I've been trained to think that way, becoming a teacher. Maybe I should just tolerate it and enjoy the view? Or does that turn me into a sexist pig that automatically objectifies women?

The First Time Is Always The Hardest

Blogs are always difficult for me. I'm not accustomed to writing out a journal, or telling complete strangers how I feel. Generally, I am a very private person and not one to shout out what I have on my mind. However, When something does arise that stirs my passions, rest assured I will work up enough courage to muster a response, sometimes quite explosively. So, if you bear that in mind when reading the following entries, then there won't be any surprises.

That being said, I welcome you to my little piece of the First Amendment. I hope it stirs thought, tickles your funnybone, surprises, shocks and moves you to comment about what I think about things. I'll never say you're wrong and I'll never say I'm right. So here's to free, guiltless conversation!