Today marks the first day of gay marriage in California and my warmest congratulations to Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon who today are getting married here in San Francisco.
Newsom planned to preside at the wedding of lesbian rights activists Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 84, the only couple scheduled to receive a marriage license in the city on Monday. As of Friday, nearly 620 couples had booked appointments to obtain licenses at San Francisco City Hall over the next 10 days.
Clerks elsewhere around the state reported nowhere near as high a demand but said they were training volunteer marriage commissioners to officiate at civil ceremonies in anticipation of a surge in business.
Unlike Massachusetts, which legalized gay marriage in 2004, California has no residency requirement for marriage licenses, and that is expected to draw a great number of out-of-state couples. The turnout could also be boosted by New York state’s recent announcement that it will recognize gay marriages performed in other jurisdictions.
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 an additional 68,000 out-of-state couples will travel here to exchange vows. The study estimated that over that period, gay weddings will generate some 2,200 jobs and $64 million in badly needed tax revenue for the state, which is ailing financially.
That gay marriage will have an economic impact is nice but let us not forget the human impact. Del and Phyllis speak to a life-long relationship spanning over fifty years. That today the state of California celebrates their commitment and their relationship, well there are no words that can adequately express our unadulterated joy. Congratulations to Del and Phyllis!
In Their Own Words
More on this story from the Associated Press: