SAN FRANCISCO — California officials are telling county clerks that they can start issuing marriage licenses to same- sex couples June 17.
The state Office of Vital Records says it chose June 17 because the state Supreme Court has until the end of business June 16 to decide whether to grant a stay of its ruling legalizing gay marriage.
New marriage-license forms will include lines for “Party A” and “Party B” instead of bride and groom.
A poll released Wednesday, meanwhile, found that more California voters now support allowing same-sex marriage than oppose it.
The results mark the first time in more than three decades of polling by the Field Poll that more California voters have approved of extending marriage to gay couples than have disapproved, said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo.
The survey of 1,052 registered voters was conducted over the phone. It had a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.
“I would say this is a historic turning point or milestone,” DiCamillo said. “We have speculated in the past there would be some time in the future when a majority would support same- sex marriage.
“Well, the lines have crossed.”
The poll found that 51 percent of respondents backed legalizing same-sex marriage and 42 percent opposed it, DiCamillo said.
In 2006, when participants were asked, “Do you approve or disapprove of California allowing homosexuals to marry members of their own sex?” 44 percent said they approved and 50 percent objected.
In 1977, the first year Field posted the question to voters, 28 percent approved and 59 percent were opposed.
The poll was conducted from May 17 to May 26 in the days after the California Supreme Court handed down its historic ruling legalizing same- sex marriage in the nation’s most populous state.
A smaller percentage of respondents — 48 percent — said they agreed with the court’s decision, and 46 percent disagreed.
