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February 12, 2004
Lesbians Marry in San Francisco
URL: http://sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/02/12/GAYMARRIAGE.TMP
(Updated!) We interrupt this blog for an important announcement: dozens of same-sex couples were married today at San Francisco City Hall. Among the group were Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. two lesbians famous among gay rights activists. Neither lesbian is a librarian, but no doubt by the week's end at least one gay librarian should be married, given the number of librarians in the Bay Area, the number of gay people in the Bay Area, the high percentage of gays and lesbians in librarianship, and the proximity of San Francisco Public Library to SF's City Hall.
"The wedding came just two days after Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that he wanted San Francisco to take the lead in bestowing the same marriage rights to gays and lesbians as are awarded to straight couples, saying he is duty-bound to fight discrimination."
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon are pioneers of the gay rights movement, and were founding members of Daughters of Bilitis, an early lesbian organization.
Personal note: my partner and I have discussed marrying many times, but have been waiting until we could do it legally in this country. If the law is still valid when we can next get to San Francisco (and SF accepts couples from the Mysterious East Bay), we'll get hitched. Who would have thought it..!
Posted by kgs at February 12, 2004 03:15 PM
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Comments
Karen,
Will it be "discrimination" to deny a marriage license to a lesbian couple and the biological father of their child? Three or more polyamorists? Where does "discrimination" become the defensible bounds of marriage?
How can you call into question ALA's advocacy of age neutrality for one type of state operation (libraries), while demanding sex preference neutrality for another (marriage)? It seems to me that the difference between a straight and gay couple is as great (e.g., in the ability of each to have children) as that between a child and an adult (maturity, etc.) Why "discriminate" in the latter instance, but not the former?
Most importantly, if your concern is children, then I would think that you would bear in mind the strong social science data demonstrating the costs to children of single-parent homes, which is what you get when you weaken marriage.
Posted by: Jack Stephens at February 12, 2004 04:18 PM