That's the gayest thing since gay went to gaytown.
SAN FRANCISCO — Dozens of gay couples were married Monday after a landmark ruling making California the second state to allow same-sex nuptials went into effect.
At least five county clerks around the state extended their hours to issue marriage licenses, and many same-sex couples got married on the spot.
The May 15 California Supreme Court ruling overturning bans on same-sex marriage took effect at 8:01 p.m. Eastern time.
The really big rush to the altar was not expected to take place until Tuesday, which is when most counties planned to start issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of couples from around the country are expected to seize the opportunity to make their unions official in the eyes of the law.
In San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom, who helped launch the series of lawsuits that led the court to strike down California's one-man-one-woman marriage laws, presided at the wedding of Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 84.
Newsom picked the couple for the only ceremony in City Hall Monday in recognition of their long relationship and their status as pioneers of the gay rights movement. More than 600 same-sex couples have made appointments to get marriage licenses in San Francisco over the next 10 days.
In February 2004, Newsom decided to challenge California's marriage laws by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
In the month that followed, more than 4,000 same-sex couples were married before a judge acting on petitions brought by gay marriage opponents halted the city's spree. The state Supreme Court ultimately voided those unions, but two dozen couples sued and those lawsuits led the same court last month to overturn California's ban on gay marriage.
Among the plaintiffs in those lawsuits was a couple married Monday in a Jewish ceremony in front of the Beverly Hills courthouse.
The ceremony between Robin Tyler and Diane Olson was broadcast live on three newscasts in Los Angeles.
The couple wept and pressed their foreheads together, and onlookers whooped as the marriage became valid.
Rabbi Denise Eger saluted the couple for "these many years of coming to this very place and standing on these courthouse steps year after year of being denied this right, this civil right."
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