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Judge rejects block on gay marriage

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom stands between newlyweds Cissie Bonini, left, and Lora Pertle, during a reception at San Francisco City Hall on Friday. PHOTO: AP

Conservative groups failed to stop San Francisco from issuing same-sex marriage licenses as hundreds more gay couples rushed to tie the knot before the opportunity slipped away.

All day Friday, the marble passages beneath City Hall's ornate gold dome echoed with applause as one couple after another got hitched, promising to be "spouses for life." As of Friday evening, 559 couples were married.

Gay couples received more good news when a judge denied a request by conservatives to immediately block the marriage spree and ordered attorneys to come back Tuesday and make their case. City officials, meanwhile, announced they would keep special hours during the long President's Day weekend to accommodate the crowds who have flocked to San Francisco from throughout California and other states.

The marriage spree began on Thursday with the blessing of incoming Mayor Gavin Newsom, who made San Francisco the first US city to officially support same-sex marriage while drawing the ire of conservatives who accuse him of trampling the law.

"Apparently, Mayor Newsom felt he's above the law and, like a dictator, could simply dictate what the law should be," said Richard Ackerman, an attorney for the Campaign for California Families.

While it remains unclear what practical value the marriage licenses will carry, their symbolism was evident.

No US state recognizes same-sex marriage, and only Vermont sanctions same-sex civil unions -- a legal designation that confers all the rights and benefits of marriage for gays and lesbians.

Massachusetts is set to become the first state to recognize gay marriage in mid-May after the state's high court in November ruled it unconstitutional to bar such marriage, but conservative lawmakers there have waged a campaign to pass legislation to ban gay unions. The lawmakers ended two days of impassioned debate on the ban in stalemate Thursday and are set to meet again on March 11.

In San Francisco, hundreds of gay couples began lining up at 4am on Friday, many of them rushing into town from other cities to get married before the courts could step in.

Mikko Alanne, 31, and his partner, Ari Solomon, 27, drove in overnight from West Hollywood, a six-hour trip.

"This is the first step towards the state recognizing gay marriage," Alanne said.

"We won't be recognized outside San Francisco, [but] we are very excited," he said.

The conservative groups had hoped Superior Court Judge James Warren would order the county clerk not to issue any more licenses to same-sex couples, and to void any licenses already granted. Warren said court procedures require them to return after the weekend to properly make their request.

California law, as approved by the voters in 2000, defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state officials have avoided comment, but Attorney General Bill Lockyer's spokeswoman did note that California's Constitution provided broader rights of equal protection than other states.

"I'm not interested as a mayor in moving forward with a separate but unequal process for people to engage in marriages," Newsom said on ABC TV.

"The people of this city and certainly around the state are feeling that separate but unequal doesn't make sense," he said.

Emboldened by the weddings in San Francisco, gay couples went to courthouses around the nation on Thursday and Friday to demand the right to marry.

They were quickly turned away.

In Richmond, Virginia, eight couples clutching pink "bride" and blue "groom" applications were denied licenses as legislators three blocks away debated a bill affirming the state's ban on same-sex marriages.

"It's a heartbreaker to be rejected," said Mary Gay Hutcherson, accompanied by her partner of 10 years, Yolanda Farnum.

"But it was empowering. I think we deserve a license from the state of Virginia. And I think someday we will get one," she said.

They also protested in Ohio, where Governor Bob Taft signed a law last week making it the 38th state to officially bar recognition of gay marriage and the second to deny benefits such as health insurance coverage to unmarried employees' partners. The Ohio law is considered one of the most far-reaching bans in the country.

"It's so easy for people who have something to tell others they can't have it," said Christopher Hoffman, who was turned away in Columbus with his partner of 16 months, Joshua Jacob Wiley.

"We don't want to be `domestic partners.' We want to be husbands," he said.
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