California Attorney General Kamala Harris marries Prop 8. plaintiffs, Sandy Stier and Kris Perry, Photo: Justin Sullivan
Following the 9th Circuit Federal Court ruling Friday to drop the stay on Gays and Lesbians to marry in California, same-sex couples are now reportedly getting married all over the Castro, atop Twin Peaks and without a doubt in droves at San Francisco's City Hall.
It seemed every major City official was on-hand as the announcement came down and spread like wildfire. Couples from the neighborhood and all over the City quickly gathered up marriage licenses, friends, flowers, wrote vows and ran primarily towards SF City Hall to take part in a once denied ritual that they'd worked hard and waited so very long to achieve.
Mayor Ed Lee announced San Francisco's County Clerks office would stay open late on Friday till 8PM to accomadate its citizens and that they'd hold special sessions 9 AM to 5 PM Saturday and again during the same time period of SF high gay holiday, LGBT Pride Parade, on Sunday.
First couple in California to step up to City Hall's altar were two of the plaintiffs in the landmark Prop. 8 US Supreme Court case, Kris Perry and Sandra Stier, who were married by California's Attorney General, Kamalia Harris within the hour after the stay was lifted on Friday afternoon.
"City Hall was a scene of joyous bedlam", Castro Biscuit reader, Rachel Swedish, texted to us while snapping pix for this post of happy couples being married late in the afternoon in the rotunda under City Hall's iconic, world-famous dome.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stay banning same-sex marriages late Friday afternoon, two days after the Supreme Court ruled the proponents of the voter-approved 2008 constitutional amendment had no standing to appeal a lower court decision. A 2010 decision deemed the amendment unconstitutional. That decision now stands.
This week-end we should see dozens of couples marry as many take advantage of the recent landmark ruling-especially doubly significant-as the Pride Parade and celebration is on Sunday. What better backdrop for a wedding reception could there be than that?
