February 2004: San Francisco

Mayor Newsom

line of couples in rain outside City Hall

Waiting to get married,
outside City Hall

Newsom with newlyweds
Cissie Bonini and Lora Pertle

Couples waiting
to be married

…He is Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, and from February 12 to March 11, his office marries 4,000 same-sex couples, including me and Chris.

We are there when the photo at right is taken, outside San Francisco City Hall. After flying from Seattle, we wait overnight, outside in the rainstorm, for the opportunity to be legally married. One of the women behind us in line climbs up to the statue of Lincoln and, to the cheers of the crowd, places in his arms the sign We All Deserve The Freedom To Marry.

Going through the line inside, we see pictures from the history of San Francisco, including a demonstration from the ‘60s for racial equality. They too had placed a sign in Lincoln’s arms. Different cause, same response.

In his press release, Newsom announces he’s doing this because of,

“the California Constitution’s equal protection clause, which states unequivocally: ‘[a] person may not be … denied equal protection of the laws.’ Denying basic rights to members of our community will not be tolerated. California’s Constitution is clear: discrimination is immoral, it is illegal and it is antithetical to our most cherished values – liberty and freedom”.

Timeline key: progress (green), no progress (red), pending court cases (purple),
events that are neutral, not directly related, or with both positive and negative effects (black)