"As a rule, I don’t cry at weddings. However, this week, the nuptial celebrations at San Francisco City Hall inspired even the stodgiest among us to wipe our eyes and grin at men in twin tuxedos, women in matching satin dresses and children in taffeta frocks or tiny suits eyeing the complimentary cupcakes passed out by blue-shirted members of the Unitarian Church.

"On Tuesday, county clerk’s offices in California began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The previous evening, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had married longtime lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, both in their 80s. The news prompted my mother and me, having chosen this week at random to meet for a vacation, to rush over to City Hall on Tuesday morning.

"What we saw there astonished us . . . ."

Read the rest of "Gender Aside, Weddings are Special" from The Register Guard.