by Karen Ocamb

“And what’s your husband’s name?” a reporter asked.

Jason Lyon’s eyes welled up with tears. Just married to Tim Hartley, his partner of nine years, by West Hollywood City Councilmember John Duran, with three-and-a-half old Noah looking on, the full joy and meaning of the ceremony suddenly overwhelmed him.

“You’re the first one to use that word—‘husband,’” said Lyon, as he turned to hug his friend Duran, who was also crying.

Similar scenes were repeated throughout California on June 17, the day when hundreds of lesbian and gay couples clutching legal marriage certificates, lined up at courthouses, county clerk offices and other officially designated sites around the state to get married. Bursting with gratitude, many shouted thanks to the California Supreme Court, which ruled May 15 that marriage is a fundamental civil right that should not be denied based on sexual orientation.

Legal civil marriages actually started at 5:01 p.m. on June 16 with special dispensations given to lesbian feminist pioneers Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, partners for 55 years, by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, and to Robin Tyler and Diane Olson in Beverly Hills, by Acting Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan, in recognition of their longtime advocacy for marriage equality. A few other jurisdictions also started on June 16.

In San Francisco, about 50 invited guests in the mayor’s office erupted into cheers and tears when Newsom pronounced Martin, 87, and Lyon, 83, “spouses for life” at 5:07 p.m., the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“It’s really just amazing the progress we've made,” Lyon told the Chronicle in a pre-wedding interview. Founders of the nation’s first lesbian organization, the Daughters of Bilitis, in 1955, the couple also wrote The Ladder and the important book, Lesbian/Woman, in 1972.

“We have to remember to say, ‘I do,’ OK?” Lyon said to Martin.

“I think we can do that,” Martin replied, adding, “We’re not getting younger.”

The historic day for same-sex couples “would not be happening were it not for Del and Phyllis," Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, told the Chronicle. “They and a small cadre of others sacrificed everything to build a foundation that got us to this historic place where we are today.”

Tyler, 66, and Olson, 54, together for 15 years, returned to the Beverly Hills Courthouse where they were denied a marriage license every Valentine’s Day for eight years, often accompanied by the Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, and his spouse, Phillip De Bliek (they were married in Canada), and other MCC supporters. (Perry was in Canada on June 16.)

This time the couple was accompanied by Gloria Allred, their attorney, who filed the first lawsuit on their behalf. Scores of friends were there, too.

“I never thought I’d live to see this day. This is second on my list—first is to have a woman president … this is the second,” Feminist Majority founder Peg Yorkin told IN Los Angeles magazine.

“It means so much. My partner [Phyllis Irwin, 79] and I have been together for 36 years and finally, finally, we can get married,” said historian Lillian Faderman, 67. “Del and Phyllis are pioneers. But Robin and Diane have led the way because they’ve been fighting for this for the last 10 years.”

A swarm of media followed Tyler and Olson’s every move as they entered the courthouse.

“We’ve never gotten this far before,” Tyler said to the clerk.

“Well, you have, today,” the clerk replied.

They emerged at roughly 5:15 p.m., waving their marriage certificate. Rabbi Denise Eger from Congregation Kol Ami was waiting on the plaza to perform a Jewish wedding, which was broadcast live by three local TV stations.

“Do you, Robin, take Diane to be your companion in life ... to love and honor and cherish her” Eger asked.

“I do,” Tyler said. Olson said, “Absolutely”—then remembered to say, “I do.”

When Eger talked about the rings, Tyler started to cry. “These will always and eternally be a symbol of your love and commitment to one another,” Eger said.

“By this ring, you are consecrated to me before God and these witnesses—in the sprit of our people,” Tyler said, choking up.

After the vows, the couple moved to the reception to cut the elaborate wedding cake.

“My name is Robin Tyler and I’d like to introduce you to my wife!” she said. “We stand on the shoulders of hundreds of thousands of activists who helped make this day possible.”

Later, Tyler told IN, “We are both walking on cloud nine!”

San Francisco-based Molly McKay and Davina Kotulski of Marriage Equality USA, also longtime activists for marriage rights, were not able to wed since Kotulski was in Italy. Instead, on June 17, same-sex “wedding day” in California, McKay performed marriage ceremonies for same sex couples in Bakersfield and Fresno.

“It was just delicious,” McKay told IN. Though everyone braced for protests, none occurred, she said.

In fact, though protesters tried to make an impact in San Francisco (see Community News), the handful in West Hollywood were largely ignored.

“They have a constitutional right to be stupid,” West Hollywood City Councilmember John Heilman told IN.

The most famous couple to publicly obtain a marriage license on June 17 was Star Trek actor George Takei and Bruce Altman, 54, his partner of 21 years.

“Isn't this a glorious California morning to make history?” Takei, 71, said at a news conference in West Hollywood before licenses were issued. “What I see before me are people who are the change for equality—equality in marriage and equality in everything. I see before me people who personify love and commitment. I see people who are the personifications, the joy and celebration, and Brad Altman and I are going to join you, and we are going to get our marriage license today. Isn't that extraordinary and isn’t that wonderful? Congratulations to all of us: May equality live long and prosper.”

The couple plans a September wedding. Other couples also decided to wait to marry instead of availing themselves of the deputized marriage commissioners under tents behind the auditorium in West Hollywood and Norwalk, the seat of the County Registrar.

Juan Rivera, 42, and Eric Manriquez, 41, who’ve been together for five years, for instance, were married that night at the home of Christine Chavez (granddaughter of civil rights icon Cesar Chavez) and Oscar Gonzales Jr. in East L.A.; and Reverend Dr. Cindi Love, MCC executive director, and her partner of 27 years, Glenda Sue Jennings, plan to marry June 24, with Perry officiating.

But June 17 will forever be etched in the memories of ordinary couples like Jason Lyon and Tim Hartley and Tori and Kate Kuykendall, both 31, the first couple in line to get licenses in West Hollywood. With them was their 5-month-old baby daughter, Zadie. Jay Mendes, 40, and Vantha Sao, 22, also showed up the night of June 16, becoming the second couple in line. Becky Gutierrez, 22, and Joanna Serranno, 23, from Glendale, showed up shortly afterwards.

Dr. Gaston Pfluegl, 46, who works at the Life Sciences labs at UCLA, and Enrique Lopez, 40, a research neuropsychologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said marriage means “taking the responsibility for each other and being taken care of.”

True for couples such as Robert and Thomas Van Etten of Palm Springs, who waited over 40 years for this day. Drs. Helen Cooksey and Susan Love, both 60, of Pacific Palisades, have been waiting 26 years; and for attorneys Jenny Pizer, 48, and Doreena Wong, 56, it’s been almost 24 years.

Jeff Prang, the mayor of West Hollywood, called the day a “watershed event on a grand scale ... This recognition of our relationships is tectonic.”

On June 16 and 17, just over 2,700 marriage licenses were issued—the vast majority to same-sex couples, the Los Angeles Times reported. The statewide average for an entire week in June is about 2,460.

But an obstacle awaits: the anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment on the November ballot, which L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky opposes. “People who enter into long-term relationships deserve to have the blessings of the law,“ he told IN, “and I think society will come to understand that over time.”

Duran was already thinking ahead. “This is the opening of a new chapter of gay and lesbian history. We’ve been looking at marriage as an end point—after AIDS and domestic partnerships. This is a new chapter,” he told IN. “What happens when we have full equality in California? Where do we go from here?”