SAN FRANCISCO — Gay couples in California rushed to set wedding dates Wednesday after the California Supreme Court's unusually quick rejection of challenges to its historic decision permitting same-sex couples to wed.
By rejecting petitions asking for reconsideration of the May 15 ruling, the court, in a 4-3 vote, removed the final obstacle to same-sex marriages starting June 17.
The court also refused to delay enforcement of the decision until after the November election, when voters will decide whether to reinstate a ban on same-sex nuptials.
Hours after the court made the timing clear, a jubilant Jason Lyon scheduled his wedding in Los Angeles to his partner of eight years, Tim Hartley.
"I'm thrilled -- over the moon," said Lyon, 39, who scurried to invite friends to the couple's Silver Lake home for a caravan to the county clerk's office and a celebratory lunch on the first day gay marriage is legal.
County clerks have been warned to prepare for an onslaught of weddings. As of June 17, the words "bride" and "groom" on marriage licenses will be replaced with "Partner A" and "Partner B."
A soon-to-be-released study by the Williams Institute at UCLA's School of Law predicts that thousands of gay couples will rush to the altar before the November election.
The study projects that the numbers will swell if voters reject the anti-gay-marriage initiative, forecasting that 51,320 gay California couples and 67,513 from out of state will marry in the state during the next three years.
Extrapolating from the study, based on census data and Massachusetts' experience after it permitted same-sex matrimony, the director of the institute -- which focuses on sexual orientation law and public policy -- said more than 20,000 weddings were anticipated by November.
While some gay Californians finalized their plans for the altar Wednesday, others were unsure whether to pop the question.
Matt Dorsey, who works for the city of San Francisco, explained the likely hesitation of some gay men to tie the knot.
"We may be gay, but we're guys. We're a little commitment-phobic," he said.
The court's decision to reject the appeals was unusually speedy. Petitions for rehearing, even those that are all but certain to be turned down, usually delay enforcement of rulings for 30 to 60 days.
