During a Historic Day, Mayor Newsom Reflects

On a day like today, you'd have to forgive San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom for pausing to take in the moment. Newsom became an important ally of the gay marriage movement when he granted marriage licenses to same-sex couples back in February of 2004, and as he sits inside his second-floor office, the veranda doors open while onlookers cheer the newly-wedded couples outside, it's hard not to feel the emotional payoff wrought from that 2004 decision.

Still, Newsom insists he hasn't had a chance to join the crowd.

"I have to be careful, because there are friend and foe out there," he says. "So I have to be more cautious. I wish I could go out there with a ballcap and glasses." However, he did allow himself one private moment today: on the way to City Hall, he pulled his car over a half-block away just to take in the spectacle of couples preparing to marry.

"People say 'My life was changed four years ago,'" he says. "Today, we're reinforcing that." Newsom adds that the mood is very different now than it was in 2004. "Then, it felt like you were doing something that you shouldn't be doing -- but you knew it was right. This time, we have permission to do it."

After officiating at yesterday's wedding between longtime activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, Newsom has conducted several more today, including one for a couple where one of the women, suffering from breast cancer, had only weeks left to live. Another bride-to-be, an eight-grade teacher, used her summer break to get married, then was surprised when her students came to City Hall today to show their support.

"With this ring, I thee wed. It's amazing how profound those words are," says Newsom. "They change lives."

For more marriage coverage, go to Advocate.com.

Comments

[Lynn Tsutsumi]

During our coverage of gay marriage in California last week one of the same-sex couples getting married at SF's City Hall mentioned that some insurance companies are requiring that persons with domestic partnership status must get married asap to keep their benefits.

Do you know anything about this matter?

Gratefully,
Lynn Tsutsumi
Bond Magazine