Pair of brides now business as usual
County Clerk's Office, many locals glad to see weddings of same-sex couples
Published: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 3:40 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 5:35 a.m.
It was a regular business day Tuesday at the Sonoma County Clerk's Office. But with a twist.
A man filled out a form for a copy of his birth certificate. A woman and man waited at a counter for a marriage license.
And two bridesmaids in red dresses twirled around as they waited for their lesbian friends to be wed -- on the first full day they could legally marry in California.
One of their friends wore a white wedding dress. Her partner leaned against the counter in black slacks and a collared shirt.
They could have been any other couple to carpenter Toby Buerger, 34, of Petaluma, who waited for a marriage license with his fiancee, Leslie Cary, 32.
"I didn't even notice," Buerger said. "It has no effect on me whatsoever. It's great. Whatever makes you happy."
That was the resounding mood Tuesday, despite longer lines at the clerk's office.
The day began quietly, with Christina Saint-Laurent, 39, of San Francisco amused by a lack of gay and lesbian couples.
She drove up to see her lesbian friend get married.
"I walked in and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, there's straight people getting married today?"
The rush of gays and lesbians soon came, shortly before 10 a.m., when five couples waited in line with friends and family.
The line was so long by 1 p.m. that Robert Harrison, 50, of Forestville left and returned an hour later to turn in birth certificate forms for his daughters.
That's more the norm.
The office typically marries six couples a day and conducts an average of 150 transactions, including applications for passports and death certificates.
Harrison said he didn't mind the wait.
"I'm happy for them. It's about time," he said. "We talked to our daughters last night about equal rights."
The office's new, historic service was launched Monday evening when it was among five counties in the state to perform legal marriages for same-sex couples.
A state Supreme Court ruling redefining marriage took effect at 5:01 p.m. It marked California as the second state in the nation to legalize same-sex nuptials, after Massachusetts.
County Clerk Janice Atkinson performed the first ceremony here. Among the 20 couples to be married were chief deputy county council Sheryl Bratton and her partner.
Atkinson stayed at the office until 9 p.m. Monday. She was tired Tuesday, but ready, viewing the day as an extended Valentine's Day.
"It's incredible. It's the most amazing feeling," she said.
For bride Mai Schultz, 26, Tuesday was her special day, scheduled months in advance. She married Ryan Garrett, 27, outside the office, beneath a leafy and floral awning.
As the sole heterosexual couple scheduled to marry Tuesday, they said they were "thrilled" to be wed on the historic day. "It's a great memory," she said. "It's totally awesome."
By 2 p.m. Tuesday, the office had issued 31 marriage licenses and officiated 20 ceremonies.And deputy county clerk Vicki Petersen had booked another 14. It was more than the set limit of 30, but no matter, she said.
"We're here to serve as long as 8 p.m.," she would tell callers. And if they walked in just before that, so be it, she said.
Walk-ins and lines were common. Absent throughout the day, and Monday, were the smattering of protests seen at some other county offices.
Maybe "because we're off the beaten path," Atkinson said.
Or, maybe because the conservative community here has been "browbeaten," said Michael Erickson, chairman of the county Republican Party.
"The political culture here is small and insular" and those opposed to same-sex marriage fear retribution if they speak out, Erickson said Tuesday.
He said he supports the constitutional amendment on the ballot that would define marriage as between a man and a woman. He thinks his party will soon decide to actively back it and believes many in the county will quietly help pass the measure.
But construction worker Dennis Haley, 34, isn't so sure.
As a lesbian couple waited to be wed at the office, Haley stood next to a wall of forms.
"I lost my birth certificate and I need a new one," he said. He lived in Santa Rosa for 33 years before moving near Chico. He's Republican, conservative, and a Christian, he said.
But he didn't have a problem with the same-sex marriages being performed at the office, and no one he knows does either. "I don't care," Haley said. "If people want to be together, that's fine."
You can reach Staff Writer Shadi Rahimi at 521-5280 or shadi.rahimi@pressdemocrat
.com.
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