A sight so fine: The legalization of same-sex marriage in California

By Michael J.W. Stickings

On Thursday, following last month's wonderful and historic ruling by the state Supreme Court, California Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer declared that from now on the state's marriage law "shall be interpreted as making the designation of marriage available both to opposite-sex and same-sex couples."

Same-sex marriage became legal in California on Monday at 5:01 pm. Licences were available from 8:00 am Tuesday morning.

There has been the usual opposition from the usual suspects, but, as the L.A. Times suggested on Wednesday, "a general lack of hysteria over gay marriages proves a shift in public opinion much more effectively than any poll." (I hope that is indeed the case.)

It wasn't at all like February 2004, when same-sex marriage was briefly legalized in San Francisco amid much political fanfare. Instead, marriages on Monday evening were followed by many more on Tuesday, with happy couples all across the state tying the knot without much in the way of vocal and visible opposition.

Though opposition will undoubtedly rise up again -- no, we have not heard the last of it -- California has moved forward, at long last. Homophobic bigotry remains a major obstacle throughout much of the country, but a new age is dawning.

It has been a long and difficult process. There have been setbacks and disappointments. But there is something amazingly beautiful when love, with a little help from the courts (and, increasingly, public opinion), triumphs.

And that is what happened this week in California.

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Here, by the great Vienna Teng, is "City Hall," a song about same-sex marriage from her 2006 album Dreaming Through the Noise. (This version was recorded live at Memphis's famed Sun Studio -- for Sun Studio Sessions on May 7, 2008.)