Cross-posted with Beyond Chron.

The SF Chronicle announced “breaking news” on their website yesterday (and front-page headline today) that Barack Obama is against Proposition 8 – California’s right-wing constitutional amendment to repeal marriage equality.  Too bad the “breaking” news was a letter that Obama sent to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club several days earlier, and was publicly read at their Pride Breakfast on Sunday.  But regardless of how you define news as “breaking,” Obama has been on record opposing Prop 8 for the past six weeks – as he issued a formal statement on the day of the California Supreme Court’s decision.  The Chronicle yesterday referred to Obama’s May 15th statement as “carefully nuanced” – even though his position was quite explicit, and he even used some of the same language.  Obama has always opposed Prop 8, and his pledge to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act gives LGBT couples very strong reason to campaign for him in the fall.

It’s amusing for the Chronicle to treat a letter read to a crowded room of activists two days earlier in downtown San Francisco as “breaking” news.  Spain won the Euro Cup on June 29th – the same day that Obama’s letter was read.  Would SFGate.com announce Spain’s victory two days after the fact on their front page and call it “Chronicle Breaking News”?  Readers would naturally find that strange, so how is this example any different?

Obama’s position against California’s anti-gay marriage initiative – a welcome addition as activists mobilize to defeat it – isn’t “breaking news.”  In fact, it’s not even news.

Six weeks ago, when the state Supreme Court issued its powerful decision on marriage equality, Barack Obama – like most politicians – issued a statement.  While the statement included some wishy-washy language that Obama “respects” the court decision, supports civil unions and that states should make “their own decisions,” he also formally came out against California’s Proposition 8.

“On the issue of constitutional amendments,” said the May 15th statement, “Senator Obama has been on record for some time: He opposes all divisive and discriminatory constitutional amendments, state or federal.  That includes the proposed amendments in California and Florida.” (my emphasis)

Now compare it with Obama’s letter from three days ago: “As the Democratic nominee for President, I am proud to support the LGBT community in an effort to set our nation on a course that recognizes LGBT Americans with full equality under the law … And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states.” (my emphasis)

Far from accusations by the right wing that Obama has “flip-flopped” on the issue (which the Chronicle quoted without criticisms), Obama opposed efforts to change California’s Constitution six weeks ago – and he opposes the amendment now.  But somehow, the Chronicle dismissed what the Obama campaign released on May 15th as a “carefully nuanced statement.”

Granted, Obama’s letter on June 29th was more forceful – and it also cited his support for axing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and repealing the Defense of Marriage Act.  The latter is extremely important, because California same-sex couples still don’t have all the benefits of marriage until the federal government treats them equally.  But even that isn’t news: Obama supported repealing both laws back during the primaries, which made his platform more gay-friendly than Hillary Clinton.

On May 15th, Obama’s position was that marriage should be left to the states – but that he opposed any and all state constitutional amendments.  So his allegedly “nuanced” position was that marriage could be legislated as being between a man and a woman – just as long as you didn’t enshrine hate within the constitution.  Obama didn’t change that position with his letter – he just re-iterated his opposition to California’s Proposition 8, in case you didn’t hear it the first time.

After having carefully read (and re-read) Obama’s letter to the Alice B Toklas Club, the only “news” I can see is that he publicly acknowledged the same-sex couples who got married since the Supreme Court decision.  “I want to congratulate all of you who have shown your love for each other by getting married these last few weeks,” he wrote.  “I look forward to working with you in the coming months and years, and I wish you all continued success.”  That may be news – but the media completely missed the boat on why.

In All the President’s Men, which details how Washington Post reporters helped bring down Richard Nixon with Watergate, the paper’s editor dismisses a salesman trying to sell him a feature for a weather report for people who were too drunk the day before, with the line: “Send it out to the San Francisco Chronicle – they need it.”  Apparently, the Chronicle still hasn’t learned in the past 35 years that yesterday’s news is not “breaking news.”

But it wasn’t just the Chronicle that got this story wrong — even liberal blogs treated the Alice B Toklas letter as a break from Obama’s prior position.  But Barack Obama has opposed changing the California Constitution to discriminate against same-sex couples for quite a long time – which gives the LGBT community more reason to enthusiastically support his candidacy.

EDITOR’S NOTE: In his spare time and outside of regular work hours, Paul Hogarth volunteered on Obama’s field operation in San Francisco. He also ran to be an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

(This was originally posted on the Bilerico Project, America’s best LGBT blog, by Nancy Polikoff, a gay and lesbian family legal advocate for 30 years.)

The astonishing lawyers at NCLR (National Center for Lesbian Rights) are at it again.  Not only did they get us marriage in California, but they’ve come up with some very good arguments for sending the “Protect Marriage” folks back to the drawing boards…or at least the street corners.

Seems the initiative states that it “would have no fiscal effect on state or local governments.”  But the Williams Institute crunched the numbers and found that same-sex marriage will bring almost $700 million to California in the next three years… and $63 million in taxes.  So the lawyers are arguing that the signatures were gathered under a false assertion.

They have another argument too.  An initiative to amend the California constitution can’t change it too much.  That’s the law.  A revision of the constitution must go through a different process…not subject to an initiative.  So the gay groups are arguing that the rights granted by the California Supreme Court decision are so sweeping — and touch so many provisions in the constitution — that they can’t be voted on in an initiative.

Is this just one of those we-have-to-try-it-but-it-won’t-work lawsuits? No way!  These are solid legal arguments.  But meanwhile, the massive political efforts rightly continue to defeat the initiative at the polls.

Visit The Bilerico Project for daily queer commentary.

There’s no suggestion that all of these are for same-sex weddings; it is June and lots of people get married around this time, after all.  But already the number of licenses issued exceed a traditional week in June.  I think we can reasonably aver that at least 2,000 of these are from same-sex couples.

4,000-plus people’s lives and loving relationships have been affirmed in just a couple days.  That’s nice.

Meanwhile, Virginia is SCARED OOGABOOGA!!!  Actually, random nuts in Virginia are scared, even though their state has already passed a constitutional ban.  It’s worth remembering that, while this is a great week for California, the struggle for recognition and rights is a long way from being over.

(Some more beautiful pictures from today. – promoted by shayera)

Tori and Kate Kuykendall got in line outside the West Hollywood Park auditorium late in the afternoon of June 16, just about the same time that Robin Tyler and Diane Olson were getting their marriage license at the Beverly Hills Courthouse.

The Los Angeles County Registrar awarded West Hollywood the privilege of becoming a satellite office with the right to give out marriage licenses and officiate at wedding ceremonies.

Tori, 31, from Los Angeles, and Kate, 31, from San Diego, wanted to be the first couple in line when the right became available to all lesbian and gay couples in California. They brought their 5-month old baby daughter, Zadie.  

Jay Mendes, 40, and Vantha Sao, 22, also showed up around 5:00pm, becoming the second couple in line. Becky Gutierrez, 22, from Glendale, and Joanna Serranno, 23, from Glendale showed up shortly afterwards.

The protesters – only a handful – arrived sometime this morning, trying to get media attention.

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

Jeff Prang, the Mayor of West Hollywood, was overjoyed to preside over this day in history:

It’s hard to find the right words. It is a profoundly important day in history…It’s a very humbling moment to be here at this moment in history. Today culminates what really represents a millennium of discrimination. It’s a watershed event on a grand scale and even though the struggle is not over in America, and in California – given the ballot initiative in November [to overturn the California Supreme Court’s marriage ruling]. But this recognition of our relationships is titanic. And it’s a proud moment for all of us because West Hollywood has been the center of our movement for over a decade.

West Hollywood City Councilmember John Duran, one of a handful of openly gay and HIV-positive elected officials in the nation, said:

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. What happens when we have full equality in California? Where do we go from here?

Dr. Gaston Pfluegl, 46, works at the Life Sciences labs at UCLA. His soon-to-be-husband, Enrique Lopez, 40, is a Research Neuropsychologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Marriage means them, Gaston said, “taking the responsibility for each other and being taken of.”  

But the thinkers were just as emotionally excited as everyone else. Their families – Gaston is from Germany and Enrique is from Mexico – very low education, immigrants in the fields, are “not only accepting but very supportive” of their relationship, Enrique said.

The WeHo City Council and L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky all expressed their happiness at the moment in history and talked about the need to defeat the antigay marriage ballot initiative.

Duran noted that bells would welcome the couples as they proceeded into the auditorium to complete the licensing process.

“Bells symbolize – ‘Let Freedom Ring! Let California Ring!’ A bell breaks the silence… signaling that something happened at 9:01 a.m. on June 17, 2008.”

Star Trek actor GeorgeTakei said, “Brad [Altman, his partner of 21 years] and I – we’re going to get married today. Isn’t that wonderful?… May equality live long and prosper.”

After cutting a ceremonial ribbon, the media followed Takei and Altman to the entrance to the auditorium and inside.

Couples – such as Yamileth, 35, and Angeles Dominguez, 36, who’ve been together for 3 years – lined up to apply for their licenses.

Lorri Jean, CEO of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, and her longtime partner, Gina Calvelli, said they are getting their license today but are waiting to get married in September. “What’s the rush?” Gina said.  They were also shocked to find out how expensive a wedding can be. Their first thought was to have a big “blowout” wedding with 400 people – but when they discovered that would cost roughly $30,000, they cut the party down to 40 close friends, Lorri said.

Lorri also said that “there’s something different about getting married. I haven’t quite figured it out. But it feels more serious.” She said they waited to marry because “we wanted it to be real.”

Tanya Voss, 40, and Sue Marriott, 41, flew in from Austin, Texas, to get married with their two sons, Mason Marriott-Voss, 9, and Cade, 6, as witnesses. “We wanted to be part of this historic event,” Tanya said. The family has lived together for 6 years.

Mason said he didn’t like standing in line “waiting for their moms to get legally married certicates” but, he said, “I’m happy for them.”

Dan Smith, 46, and Josh Sackman, 26, drove in from Las Vegas. Dressed in immaculate tuxes, they also had the shiniest shoes. “This is an expression of our love,” Dan said. The couple has been together for a year and a half.

After they got their certificates, George Takei and Brad Altman were besieged by reporters, some doing TV “live shots.”

Jenny Pizer, 48, whiz Lambda Legal attorney, and Doreena Wong, 56, also an attorney,  also planned to marry today. Jenny surprised Doreena with a marriage proposal at a rally on May 15 celebrating the California Supreme Court ruling. The couple has been together almost 24 years.

Jenny said of Doreena:

I knew when I first met her that she would be important and special in my life. It’s only deepened over time….The heart of the matter is love.

This diary was by LA-based lesbian journalist Karen Ocamb, seriously one of the best in the business.

Check out The Bilerico Project for daily queer commentary.

Have you seen the videos of the gay and lesbian couples getting married?  They are just amazing and I have found myself verklept countless times. This one is my favorite from the SacBee.  In it is a middle aged lesbian couple who are just absolutely beaming as they walk out of their wedding ceremony and into the crush of media.  Ellen Pontac says while raising Shelly’s arm in the air: “I would like to introduce you to my wife Shelly Bailes”. A reporter asks: “Shelly how does that sound?” Shelly: “It sounds absolutely wonderful, because this is my wife Ellen Pontac.”

Those words arer so new and foreign to gay couples.  For so long we have tried to build “partner” into something with the same meaning as “wife” or “husband”.   Despite our best efforts, it just doesn’t have the same emotional impact.

That brings me to the word marriage, vs. civil unions.  Just watch an anti-equality spokesperson tie himself in knots in the NYT today.

Mathew D. Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said the ceremonies, which began on Monday, “make a mockery of marriage.”

“Marriage has traditionally been known, across continents and all geographical regions, as between a man and a woman,” said Mr. Staver, who is 51 and married. “Marriage between the same sex may be some sort of union, but it’s certainly not marriage.”

He tries to talk about marriage, but not call it marriage.  It just doesn’t work.  That is the whole problem, in a nutshell, with trying to pass on fundamental rights under another name.  Our society does not know how to deal with it and it creates different classes of citizenship.  We don’t treat people differently here in California and that should never change.

There is more love in this world today, because hundreds of couples get the right to call another person their wife or husband.  There will be a time to fight to protect that love and those words, but for today, let’s celebrate.  Mazel Tov to all those who get to be just like everyone else today and may that always be true here in California.