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Making History, City Hall
On Monday evening at 5:01 PM, the precise moment a ruling by the State Supreme Court took effect, San Francisco's City Hall resumed same-sex marriages. The Civic Center was swamped with protesters, counter-protesters, the media, and the family and friends of the couples being married. Above, Mayor Gavin Newsom introduces the first same-sex couple to be legally married, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, partners for 55 years.

It was Newsom who set events in motion when he issued a directive to the San Francisco city-county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004. It was that directive that eventually set the stage for the Supreme Court's historic ruling. While nationally the debate on same-sex marriage continues, in California it appears to be settled. Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would back the court's decision and would campaign against the Limit on Marriage initiative.

I'll end this post with the same historical fact that I used when covering the 2004 same-sex marriages, 789 FogBay posts ago – In 1948, California was the first state in the country to strike down a ban on interracial marriage. A move that prompted some to decry that the state was attempting to make a mockery of the sanctity of marriage

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