California prepares for gay marriages

SAN FRANCISCO — Dozens of gay couples planned to rush down to their county clerk's office Monday evening to be among the very first to say "I do" under the historic court ruling making California the second state to allow same-sex marriages.

The May 15 decision by the California Supreme Court was set to take effect at 5 p.m. PDT. While Mondays are not exactly a big day for weddings, at least five county clerks around the state agreed to extend their hours to issue marriage licenses, and many gay couples planned to get married on the spot.

"These are not folks who just met each other last week and said, 'Let's get married.' These are folks who have been together in some cases for decades," said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "They are married in their hearts and minds, but they have never been able to have that experience of community and common humanity."

The really big rush to the altar in the nation's most populous state is not expected to take place until Tuesday, which is when most counties plan to start issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of couples from around the country are expected to seize the opportunity to make their unions official in the eyes of the law.

Local officials will be required to issue licenses that have the words "Party A" and "Party B" where "bride" and "groom" used to be.

A conservative Christian legal group asked a state appeals court to block the weddings, but the move was given little chance of success. California's high court rejected a previous request for a postponement.

In San Francisco, where Mayor Gavin Newsom helped launch the series of lawsuits that led the court to strike down California's one-man-one-woman marriage laws, workers got ready for the crush of couples by setting up a satellite office in the lobby of City Hall.

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.