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Gay Marriage Opponents File Suit in S.F.


— February 13, 2004

Opponents of gay marriage went to court Friday to stop an extraordinary act of ongoing civil disobedience in which San Francisco has issued nearly 100 marriage licenses to gay couples.

Weddings were continuing Friday and over the long holiday weekend despite the effort by the Campaign for California Families to obtain a restraining order that would prevent the city from issuing more licenses or performing more ceremonies inside City Hall.

But under normal legal procedures and because of Monday’s President’s Day holiday, it appeared unlikely that anyone would succeed in blocking the gay marriages before Tuesday. . . .

[I]n San Francisco, with the blessing of newly elected Mayor Gavin Newsom, the county clerk has issued nearly 100 marriage licenses to gay couples. Many of the weddings have taken place in quick civil ceremonies inside the ornate City Hall, and the clerk’s office planned to remain open Saturday in observance of Valentine’s Day.

“I’m not interested as a mayor in moving forward with a separate but unequal process for people to engage in marriages,” Newsom said in an interview Friday on ABC News’ “Good Morning America.” “I think the people of this city and certainly around the state are feeling that separate but unequal doesn’t make sense.”

I’m in favor of gay marriage — or at least civil union — but I’m hesitant about what Mayor Newsom is doing here. I fear that he is a terribly ambitious young politician, willing to do what he can to promote his own image. This situation in San Francisco reminds me of Judge Roy Moore and his Ten Commandments monument in Alabama: a politician claiming to stake out what he considers the moral high ground on a controversial issue, while getting himself plenty of national press coverage into the bargain.

In any event, the details are here from the AP.


Opponents of gay marriage went to court Friday to stop an extraordinary act of ongoing civil disobedience in which San Francisco has issued nearly 100 marriage licenses to gay couples.

Weddings were continuing Friday and over the long holiday weekend despite the effort by the Campaign for California Families to obtain a restraining order that would prevent the city from issuing more licenses or performing more ceremonies inside City Hall.

But under normal legal procedures and because of Monday’s President’s Day holiday, it appeared unlikely that anyone would succeed in blocking the gay marriages before Tuesday. . . .

[I]n San Francisco, with the blessing of newly elected Mayor Gavin Newsom, the county clerk has issued nearly 100 marriage licenses to gay couples. Many of the weddings have taken place in quick civil ceremonies inside the ornate City Hall, and the clerk’s office planned to remain open Saturday in observance of Valentine’s Day.

“I’m not interested as a mayor in moving forward with a separate but unequal process for people to engage in marriages,” Newsom said in an interview Friday on ABC News’ “Good Morning America.” “I think the people of this city and certainly around the state are feeling that separate but unequal doesn’t make sense.”

I’m in favor of gay marriage — or at least civil union — but I’m hesitant about what Mayor Newsom is doing here. I fear that he is a terribly ambitious young politician, willing to do what he can to promote his own image. This situation in San Francisco reminds me of Judge Roy Moore and his Ten Commandments monument in Alabama: a politician claiming to stake out what he considers the moral high ground on a controversial issue, while getting himself plenty of national press coverage into the bargain.

In any event, the details are here from the AP.

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