Dozens of same-gender couples are expected to line up at the Santa Clara County Clerk-Recorder's Office Tuesday to receive marriage licenses, and Supervisor Ken Yeager will be presiding over ceremonies for those ready to tie the knot.
Yeager, the first openly gay representative elected to the County Board of Supervisors, has been commissioned to perform marriages, including same-gender marriages that were declared legal by the California Supreme Court May 15.
"The word 'marriage' and all the celebration, love and harmony that comes with it was one of the last rights denied to same-gender couples in Santa Clara County and throughout the state," Yeager said. "But with the court's recent ruling, all residents can enjoy the freedom to marry the person they love."
Yeager will preside over the first two same-gender couples to be married in Santa Clara County during a 9 a.m. ceremony in his office. Mountain View residents Richard and David Speakman and San Jose residents Ronni Pahl and Hannah Davis will tie the knot first thing in the morning.
"It is my pleasure to share in this joyous and historic occasion," Yeager said. "Very few people even dreamed that this day would arrive, but now thousands of same-gender couples can have their unions recognized with the same validity as other married couples."
Supervisor Don Gage said all elected officials in the county and throughout the state have the power to marry couples. Gage has presided over 13 marriages and he plans to marry his niece and her groom in August and another heterosexual couple in September.
So far no same-sex couples have requested his services, but Gage declined to say whether he would preside over one or not.
"I don't have a response to that question," Gage said. "I don't know what it entails, but I don't have a problem with it."
To marry a couple, Gage said elected officials must pay $80 to become a "deputy commissioner" for a day. There is no fee if the marriage occurs inside the county building in San Jose, which is why Yeager won't have to pay to preside over the county's first gay marriage, Gage said. Still, he said he will have to look into the exact rules and proceedings for a same-sex marriage ceremony before he considers presiding over one.
Immediately after the court ruled that the state could issue marriage licenses to same-gender couples, Santa Clara County Clerk-Recorder Gina Alcomendras modified the county's internal marriage license applications to use terms respectful of all couples.
"We have worked hard to ensure that we treat all residents equally," Alcomendras said.
Although Tuesday is shaping up to be a busy day of marriages for Yeager, he also plans to marry other couples throughout the summer. He said his office has received about 20 calls from couples who asked him to officiate over their special days.
Any couple - same-gender or heterosexual - is welcome to call Yeager at (408) 299-5040 or contact him via e-mail at Ken.Yeager@bos.sccgov.org if they would like him to preside over their ceremony.
Profiles on some of the couples getting married
Richard and David Speakman
Richard and David Speakman were married in 2004 at San Francisco City Hall. They look forward to going through the ceremony one more time knowing that the California Supreme Court has ruled they deserve the same rights as other couples. Richard changed his name about a year ago to show the commitment that he and his spouse share.
"We originally got married in San Francisco in 2004 just because that was the only place we could get married," Richard Speakman said. "But when the Supreme Court made its ruling last month, we planned to get married at home. San Francisco is not our home, but Santa Clara County is."
Ronni Pahl and Hannah Davis
Ronni Pahl proposed to Hannah Davis in 2002, not even thinking that they would actually be able to come to the Santa Clara County Government Center to apply for a marriage license. But after hearing about the California Supreme Court's ruling, Ronni and Hannah realized that they needed to get married not only for their own commitment to each other but for their 12-year-old son Isaiah.
"We've been together too long for us not to be recognized as a family," Davis said.
Pahl, Davis and their son do everything a typical American family would. Every Fourth of July, the three of them go camping. Isaiah has also become the couple's biggest supporter, even marching with them to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2004 veto of Assemblymember Mark Leno's marriage equality bill.
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