Nearly everyone involved in the day's rituals expressed the sense that they were witnessing a milestone.
"It's American. And it's really happening," said Dalene Lindstrom, 52, a retired law enforcement officer, as she and her partner, Marilyn Lang, 58, waited for the clerk to open the Indio office. "It's a marriage, and it's going to last forever. Now we are equal with everyone else. We are not at the back of the bus."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, June 19, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 50 words Type of Material: Correction
Focus on the Family: An article about the first full day of same-sex marriage in California in Wednesday's Section A referred to the head of Focus on the Family as the Rev. James C. Dobson. Dobson is not a clergyman. He has a PhD from the University of Southern California.
Asked what she loved most about her soon-to-be wife, Lindstrom said: "She's a Christian. Look at that face. She's a compassionate person. And I love her legs."
Among the biggest meccas for same-sex couples were the courthouse in Beverly Hills, a makeshift wedding center in a West Hollywood park, the clerk's office in Norwalk and San Francisco City Hall. On the Los Angeles City Hall lawn, City Council President Eric Garcetti presided at a wedding of two women, Shane Goldsmith and Monica Granados, who met and fell in love while working in his office.
Assemblywoman Patty Berg, a Eureka Democrat, officiated at the first gay marriage at the state Capitol in Sacramento.
On a white-columned balcony of the ornate Assembly chamber, Berg joined William Nilva, 57, and Richard Saxton, 53, in matrimony.
"I pronounce you married for as long as you both shall live," Berg intoned before a small gathering of the couple's family and friends. "William, you may now kiss Richard."
The Sacramento couple have been together 20 years, and Saxton, a psychiatrist, said there was no question that they would get married when the California Supreme Court cleared the way.
"We thought it was important for new generations who need the protection," he said.
Nilva, looking happily at his partner minutes before the ceremony, took a more down-to-earth approach.
"He's a doctor," Nilva said. "Didn't your mother tell you to marry a doctor?"
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