SAN FRANCISCO — Serenaded by a gay men’s chorus, showered with rose petals and toasted with champagne, hundreds of tearful same-sex couples got married across the state Tuesday in what some are calling California’s new Summer of Love.
Wearing everything from T-shirts to tuxedos and lavish gowns, they rushed to county clerks’ offices to obtain marriage licenses and exchange vows on the first full day that gay marriage became legal in California by order of the state’s highest court.
They were joined by jubilant crowds that came to witness the event.
George Takei, who played Sulu on the original “Star Trek,” beamed as he and his partner of 21 years, Brad Altman, obtained one of the new gender-neutral marriage licenses — with the words “Party A” and “Party B” instead of “bride” and “groom” — at the West Hollywood City Hall. They are planning a September wedding.
“I see before me people who personify love and commitment,” a grinning Takei told the crowd. He flashed the Vulcan hand salute from “Star Trek” and said: “May equality live long and prosper.”
The burst of gay weddings actually began Monday evening, when a few counties extended their office hours past 5 p.m., the moment the May 15 California Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage took effect. Tuesday morning, all 58 counties began issuing licenses, and the rush was on.
There were scattered demonstrations. About a dozen protesters stood across the street from the Sacramento County recorder’s office, carrying signs that read, “Marriage 1 man + 1 woman” and “Resist Judicial Tyranny.”
“It’s something to just pray about. It’s not a time to be joyful,” Juliya Lyubezhanina, 16, said as she watched dozens of balloon- and rainbow flag-carrying couples.
Still, across the state, protesters were outnumbered by well-wishers. One conservative activist said that the effort to pass a constitutional amendment in the fall that would outlaw gay marriage again in California could fail if the opponents came on too strong.
“The major media would love to see us engage in fierce protests and hostile demonstrations of outrage against the licensing of same-sex marriages,” said Ronald Prentice, chairman of the ProtectMarriage coalition.
Some couples came from out of state. Unlike Massachusetts, the only other state to legalize gay marriage, California has no residency requirement for a marriage license.
