After All

[Well, yay.]

[Not much more can be said about the decision itself, so here's my own personal chronology of marriage equality in California:]

[Valentine's Day 2004: I trudge past City Hall on my way either to school or my city attorney internship at glamorous Fox Plaza, and I see standing in the rain a bunch of same-sex couples lining up to get married. I smile and move on down Polk Street.]

[Later that spring, by virtue of my internship, I get to sit in on the first day of the trial when some American Family Purity lawyer from Fresno with bad hair and a cheap suit scuffles with no-nonsense NCLR attorney Therese Stewart in front of gay Republican Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer, who bears a disturbing resemblance to Adam West. (It must be said that Stewart also has bad hair and a cheap suit, but she's a lesbian, so it's expected.) All the bright lights of California LGBT rights are there, as is Angela Alioto who I guess wants to be where the action is.]

[Around January 2005, I'm sitting in the car of a Very Important LGBT Rights Guy whom I've temporarily befriended (looong story) in front of Martuni's, and he whispers to me: "You know we're gonna lose, don't you?"]

[Valentine's Day 2005: By dint of my friendship with Allen and some very light volunteering I did at Equality California, I attend a very swanky gala at City Hall celebrating the marriages. In attendance: Local gay news anchor Hank Plante (hosting), Willie Brown, Del & Phyllis, Rita Moreno (without husband, who would've remembered me from the Friendly Neighborhood Cabaret), the Mayor, and (singing oddly enough) Jody Watley. The catering is outstanding, the acoustics atrocious, and I well up during the slideshow. As we all know, the California Supreme Court invalidated the marriages not because same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, but because Newsom didn't have permission under the law to authorize them.]

[I mostly disconnect from the issue after that, watching as Judge Kramer says it's unconstitutional for California to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples only to be overruled by the Court of Appeal, and then waiting as the state Supreme Court sits on it. Attorney General Lockyer becomes Attorney General Brown, and I know that both of them in their heart of hearts support marriage equality even as they defend the bigoted status quo. I know that Schwarzenegger, Clinton, Obama, Edwards, and for all I know, Bush and McCain secretly do, too, or don't care. Electoral politics, not personal conviction, guides their convoluted statements.]

[So, a couple of days ago, I hear that a decision is imminent, and that the oddsmakers are saying that it's going to 4-3 in favor of The Gay. I'm surprised, because that "we're going lose" has never completely left my memory. After all, he's a High-Up LGBT Rights Guy; he has staff; he must know, right?]

[Well, maybe he was right in 2005, but somewhere along the line someone got to Chief Justice Ronald George and changed his mind. One theory is that George was annoyed at Newsom for doing an end-run around the law and wanted him to stew for a few years. I kind of agree with that, and am still annoyed that the Mayor parlayed the easy points he scored with the gays and enough other witless, shallow pseudo-leftists to get re-elected in '07.]

[Anyway, I sent several texts today proposing marriage. None was serious, but the combination of the giddy atmosphere and the hottest weather I think I've ever experienced in San Francisco gave the whole day this unreal air. There was nervous energy everywhere, and after considering briefly stopping in the closed-off Castro to join the revelry, I thought again and headed straight home.]

[But this is huge, and no, it's not going to be reversed in November. We didn't lose after all.]

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