Local News

Contra Costa Co. Clerk Weds In Same-Sex Ceremony

MARTINEZ (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― When the glass doors of the Contra Costa County clerk's office in Martinez opened at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Jonathon Abernethy-Deppe, 60, yelled, "Charge!" from towards the front of the line.

Same-sex couples and a crowd of media jostling notebooks and video cameras rushed in to find Clerk-Recorder Stephen Weir, together with his partner John Hemm, already there to apply for a marriage license. Weir wore a kilt and Hemm, the "bride," wore a white blazer adorned with feathers.

The couple, Weir in a kilt and Hemm, the "bride," in a white blazer, was pronounced "spouses for life" and kissed to seal their vows. 

 
"Is my hand shaking?" asked Weir, filling out the first gender-neutral form issued in the county. "Am I Party A or Party B?" he asked, referring to the words that replaced "bride" and "groom" on the applications

For 18 years, Weir, 59, has overseen the office that issues marriage licenses in his county, but until Tuesday he never was able to apply for one with Hemm, 53, with whom he has lived for just as long.

Wearing pink orchid lays around their necks while bagpipes played, the men filed into Alhambra Creek Park behind the clerk's building ready to be the first same-sex couple to tie the knot in Contra Costa. They were married by Assistant County Clerk Barbara Chambers who said she was nervous before the ceremony.

Although she has conducted more than 5,000 marriage ceremonies, Chambers said she was afraid she would accidentally use "the wrong verbiage" and say something explicitly heterosexual like "bride and groom." Chambers said she highlighted all the gender-neutral words in her script.

Despite her fears, the wedding vows remained gender-neutral, and Chambers pronounced Wier and Hemm "partners for life." Weir and
Hemm exchanging rings and kissed to seal their vows after an 18-year engagement. 

Then, they took photographs and ate cookies and coffee on the lawn while a woman held up a sign that read, "I support my county clerk."

Weir said afterward that he was relieved he didn't cry during the ceremony, but his mouth was very dry.

Martinez police, with support from the California Highway Patrol and the Contra Costa County Sheriff's office and a bomb-sniffing dog, lined the streets surrounding the clerk's building at 555 Escobar St., but the small crowd outside the building remained peaceful.

At least 14 same-sex marriages were scheduled to take place in Martinez Tuesday, according to Weir.

Robin Hultgren blew bubbles throughout the day at the numerous newlyweds outside the clerk's office. A cardboard sign leaning against her knee read "Free Flower Girl" in hand-painted letters, referring to Hultgren's 2-year-old daughter Hannah.

Hannah dutifully handed out multi-colored long stem roses to same-sex couples filtering out of the clerk's office. Hultgren's 4-year-old son Ben clapped and hooted with glee.

Hultgren, 38, lives with Lisa Rood, her partner of 12 years, in Walnut Creek. "I just never imagined it would happen," said Hultgren of legal same-sex marriages. "And I never imagined it would mean so much to me."

Hultgren did not getting a gender-neutral wedding license Tuesday, but she is planning a September wedding. The wedding will include 200 guests and will take place at the University of California, Berkeley Faculty Club.

For now, she's filling the air with gossamer bubbles to show her support. "We'll be here until Hannah's done or we run out of roses," said Hultgren. "These people are so courageous. I'm so moved."

Same-sex marriage became legal in California at 5:01 p.m. Monday after the May 15 California Supreme Court ruling that gives same-sex couples the right to marry under the state constitution. The decision made California the second state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage. Massachusetts' state supreme court was the first to rule in 2003 that same-sex couples have the same rights to marriage as opposite-sex couples.

Three protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., a woman and two teenage girls, traveled to Martinez to show their opposition to gay marriage, but left before Weir and Hemm's ceremony began at 8:30 a.m.

The trio stood behind a small corral police had set up for them and held up their glossy, professionally printed "God hates fags" and "God hates fag enablers" signs.

One gay marriage supporter stood behind the protesters and held up a handwritten sign with a large arrow pointing to one of the girls. The sign read "Ignorant. Is that a sin??"

The Kansas group briefly shouted anti-gay insults and chains of expletives at supporters, but were quickly drowned out when the group began to sing, "We are gentle loving people . . ."

Supporters held signs saying, "God loves us all," "Love and let love," "Weddings are civil rights, marriage is a civil right" and "My marriage is not threatened by theirs. Why is yours?"

Ministers from several local churches also came to support gay marriage.

The Rev. Barbara Hamilton-Holway with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley said her church has been performing symbolic same-sex marriages since 1972, but it would be nice to finally be able perform them legally.

She performed a marriage ceremony for a couple shortly before noon that had been symbolically married for 28 years.

Her husband the Rev. Bill Hamilton-Holway, also with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, said Unitarian Universalists sought "to affirm the worth and dignity of every person."

He said that much of the resistance to same-sex marriage comes from how people define Christianity, but, he said, "The God we know is a God of love, not a God that finds ways to discriminate against people."

"It's time to open our eyes and see that people are oppressed and we need to set them free," the Rev. Alexandra True with the Unity Center of Walnut Creek said.

Shortly before people began gathering for Weir and Hemm's wedding, the protesters were escorted away by police, the crowd clapping and cheering to see them leave.

At the ceremony itself, friends and family of the happy couple gathered to witness the union, along with many public officials, including state Assemblyman Mark DeSaulnier, Contra Costa County Sheriff Warren Rupf, Contra Costa County Supervisor Susan Bonilla, Martinez Mayor Rob Schroder and many more.

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