Jun 17, 2008 1:58 pm US/Pacific
County Supervisor Performs 1st Gay Marriages In SJ
SAN JOSE (BCN) ―
-
-
One of the same-sex couples wed in San jose on Tuesday.
CBS
Two same-gender couples exchanged wedding vows Tuesday in a Santa Clara County Government Center conference room packed with family, friends, and media, marking a historic moment in gay rights and equality.
The couples, Ronni Pahl and Hannah Davis, and Richard and David Speakman, were pronounced legally wed in a ceremony performed by county Supervisor Ken Yeager.
"I could stand on a mountain and jump for joy right now," Pahl said after the nuptials.
Ten floors below where their wedding was performed, dozens of same-gender couples lined up at the County Clerk-Recorder's Office to apply for marriage certificates.
The county typically performs an average of 12 to 15 civil marriage ceremonies a day, but this week they are expecting to average about 25 ceremonies each day, Gwen Mitchell, county spokesperson, said.
Ceremonies were to continue all day and, if needed, run past the regular closing time of 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday was the first day same-gender ceremonies could be performed following a California Supreme Court ruling in May that declared same-gender marriages were legal.
"This validates us as a family," Davis said.
Before the Speakman and Pahl-Davis ceremonies got under way there was paperwork to be completed, marriage licenses, witness forms and such. As the couples and their witnesses filled out and signed legal documents, Yeager, donning a black officiating gown, looked on.
"It's just so amazing to watch it all happening," he said.
Yeager was deputized last week to serve as a deputy marriage commissioner. More than 60 volunteers from the community and the county came to be deputized last week to help perform the additional ceremonies, Mitchell said.
This wasn't Yeager's only officiating performance, as he had more scheduled throughout the day and on through the summer.
The couples were married in a conference room flanked by a tower of cupcakes decorated with small flags on toothpicks, a rainbow on one side and the state of California flag on the other.
A bowlful of Tulle-wrapped Jordan almonds, a mundane fixture at weddings, was transformed into the extraordinary, with a tag that held the words of the California Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-gender marriages: "a fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship."
A framed rainbow flag back-dropped the guest registry table where people signed mats for each couple.
Pahl's and Davis' 12-year-old son, Isaiah Smith, who the couple said is their "biggest supporter" said he was excited for his mothers. Behind him sat his great-grandfather who was asked if he was "Hannah's grandfather."
"Only by marriage," Gerald Pahl said.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
Click Here For July 4th Fireworks Guide
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
