Equality

I got a little teary this morning when I saw the front cover of the Chronicle, featuring the picture above.

From SF Gate:

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon made history - again - at 5:07 p.m. Monday when they were declared "spouses for life."

At that moment, standing next to each other in the mayor's office in San Francisco City Hall in front of cheering friends and relatives, the couple of 55 years became the first same-sex newlyweds in San Francisco and among the first in California under a new right bestowed by the state Supreme Court.

"And it feels great," said Lyon, 83.

It was a little more than four years ago that Lyon and Martin were the first to wed after Mayor Gavin Newsom sanctioned same-sex weddings. About 4,000 gay and lesbian couples took the plunge, but the California Supreme Court later ruled those weddings legally invalid because Newsom acted without proper authority.

This time around, Martin and Lyon were once again San Francisco's first same-sex couple to get married - only this time, it was legal.

"I never thought it would happen in our lifetime," said Arlene Rusche, 68, a friend of the couple.

I love that the mayor officiated. What a momentous step for human rights. It's so exciting to see it all happening at last.

One of the bloggers on Weddingbee compared it to Loving Day, the anniversary of which recently passed, ironically--June really is the month of all things wedding, isn't it? Loving Day is the celebration of the 1967 Supreme Court ruling that interracial couples were legally allowed to marry. The blogger noted that 40 years ago, she wouldn't have been able to marry her fiancee, who is Chinese (she is white). I can't imagine loving someone and not being legally allowed to marry them. How awful.

I know we have a long road to travel (California is just one state, after all), but this makes me very hopeful.

Congratulations to all of the couples getting married this week, but especially to Del and Phyllis.