Jun 20, 2008  |  By: CHRIS JOHNSON  | COMMENTS     

Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples were married across California this week, in a historic milestone for the gay rights movement that drew extensive mainstream media coverage.

The California Supreme Court ruling permitting same-sex marriage in the state, issued May 15, allowed gay couples to wed in California starting Tuesday. A number of California counties began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples starting Monday at 5:01 p.m.

Los Angeles County reports that by the end of Tuesday, it had issued 648 marriage licenses to couples, both opposite- and same-sex. Prior to the implementation of the high court’s ruling, the average number of licenses issued per day in Los Angeles County during the month of June was 194.

The number of wedding ceremonies performed in the City of Angels was 279.

Lesbian couple Diane Olson and Robin Tyler, one of the 14 plaintiff couples that sued California for the right to marry, were the first and only couple Monday to obtain a marriage license from Los Angeles County.

The Associated Press reported that San Diego County issued 230 licenses Tuesday, breaking its previous single-day record of issuing 176 licenses on Valentine’s Day in 2005.

The first gay couple to wed in San Francisco were longtime lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom officiated at the ceremony, which took place Monday at 5:01 p.m. with 50 invited guests.

Lyon and Martin were the first of about 4,000 couples who married in San Francisco in 2004. Under the guidance of Newsom, the city briefly issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples before they were voided in August of that year by the Supreme Court.

Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, called Martin and Lyon “the founding mothers of the lesbian rights movements.”

“In the 1950s, when it was unthinkable to be openly lesbian or gay, Del and Phyllis and a very small band of incredibly courageous contemporaries risked everything to end the isolation and invisibility,” Kendell said.

Local lesbian filmmaker Joan E. Biren is showcasing her 2003 movie about Lyon and Martin, titled “No Secret Anymore: the Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon,” Wednesday at the American Film Institute Theater in Silver Spring, Md.

Biren said Lyon and Martin’s marriage is probably more important to others in the gay community than to the couple themselves because they are “not only a long-term couple but a couple who devoted their entire lives to fighting for our right and our equality.”

“There is a lot of symbolism in all of it, but beyond the symbolism is the fact that these two women love each other and have been together in a committed monogamous relationship for 55 years,” Biren said.

Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis, also among the couples who sued California for the right to marry, were also wed early on in San Francisco City Hall. The two had the their ceremony Tuesday at 9 a.m.

Gaffney, a project director for the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at University of California in San Francisco, and his spouse, John Lewis, an attorney, also received a marriage license in San Francisco in 2004 that was soon voided.

Gaffney told the Blade the experience of getting married this time was particularly special because, unlike the first time they tied the knot, family members participated. Lewis and Gaffney’s parents, siblings and close friends were able to take part in their 2008 celebration.

“Sharing our love with the people nearest and dearest to us was the most beautiful part — that’s something we’ve never experienced before,” Gaffney said. “We got to see the love we share reflected back at us in the eyes of our family and friends.”

Gaffney said that the media came “jostling” into his wedding to get a view and made the ceremony a little chaotic, but when he and Lewis began exchanging vows, Gaffney felt that “all of that dropped into the background.”

“It was as if all the family and friends around us and also the media, were almost protecting us like a cocoon while we were in a private space,” Gaffney said.

He saw no protesters outside of San Francisco City Hall and the atmosphere around the building was festive and welcoming. The city “took excellent care” of couples getting married Tuesday to ensure there would be no problems, he said.

The couple ...