On Feb. 12, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the county clerk to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples. He also declared that City Hall would stay open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. over the weekend and on President’s Day, when the office would have otherwise been closed.
About 3,200 couples have married since Newsom’s order.
Cnn.com reported that marriage applications were $82, with an additional license fee of $13.
One of the first couples to marry after Newsom’s order were Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who, in 1955, founded the first lesbian organization in the United States, the Daughters of Bilitis.
Lyon told CNN, “We have a right just like anyone else to get married to the person we want to get married to.”
Sophomore Sarah Everette, president of Guilford’s GLBTQA PRIDE, is excited by Newsom’s actions.
“San Franscisco’s local government is participating in a wonderful act of civil disobedience,” said Everette. “I hope that other cities and states will follow suit and join them in the fight for equal rights.”
However, two groups, the Alliance Defense Fund and the Campaign for California Families, have said that Newsom violated California law. Newsom has replied that California law mandates against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Judges have twice denied opponents’ requests to order San Francisco to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
According to cnn.com, the ruling was that “the groups had failed to prove that San Francisco’s actions caused irreparable harm.”
According to commondreams.org, a progressive news web site, San Francisco officials sued the state on Feb. 19, saying laws that define marriage as heterosexual illegally discriminate against gays and lesbians. The city officials also said that these laws contradict the state constitution’s guarantee of due process and privacy.
State Attorney General Bill Lockyer issued a statement supporting domestic partnerships and civil unions, but opposing same-sex marriage because California voters made it illegal in 2000 through Proposition 22.
Despite the backlash, Newsom defends his decision.
Newsom told cnn.com that his political career doesn’t matter as much as ending discrimination against same-sex couples.
Everette agrees with Newsom that ending discrimination is important.
“This is forcing the American people to look at queer marriages and see that it won’t be the end of the world if we actually allow gay people to get married,” said Everette. “If you look back on history, it wasn’t so long ago that interracial marriages were illegal. Now it’s inconceivable for us to think that there would be laws against it. I hope that my children can look back on the history of gay marriage and think the same thing.”
San Francisco has gained national attention, and President Bush has criticized Newsom. Bush wants a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, but told CNN that this would not stop states from allowing civil unions.
Democrats have accused Bush of pushing the amendment for political gain and to shift attention from his presidential record.
Stephanie Cutter, campaign spokesperson for Democratic candidate John Kerry, told CNN that Bush is trying to “use wedge issues and the politics of fear to divide the nation.