6 Helicopters, Mr. Sulu, 3 Protesters But No Wrath of God
So far ...
By Jon Ponder on 6/19/2008, 2:02pm PT  

Guest blogged by Jon Ponder, Pensito Review.

I live about 100 yards from West Hollywood City Hall so when the first marriage licenses were issued to gay people there on Tuesday, it was a big day for news helicopters overhead. I, of course, watched the festivities as reported by CNN's Thelma Gutierrez, via satellite feed to Atlanta, routed back to me 3,000 miles across the country by cable. What a whacky world.

Thelma was not alone. According to WeHo News, our local online-only newspaper, media outlets on the scene also included Tokyo Broadcasting Corporation, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Wall Street Journal, NY Times, and the Washington Post.

Here's how WeHo News described the first minutes of the gold-ring rush:

Beginning at 8:30 am, the affair had all the pomp and circumstance the City and County could provide, complete with a ribbon cutting and formal announcements and speeches, half a dozen marriage tents, balloons, floral arrangements and Hollywood stars.

Giving Hollywood flavor to the proceedings (explaining the larger than usual media presence), George Takei, the actor who played the character "Sulu" on the original Star Trek, now 71 years old, and his beau Brad Altman, 54, became the first couple duly licensed by the County at the West Hollywood temporary licensing branch at WeHo Park Auditorium.

In his public remarks, Mr. Takei declared his excitement, saying, "it's going to be the only day like this in our lives and it is the only day like this in the history of America."

Finishing with the Vulcan split finger hand sign, he declared, “Let equality live long and prosper!”

And some statistics:

Across the state, at least 2386 licenses were issued, up from 460 on an average day.

The LA County Registrar/Recorder reported that 648 licenses issued in the county compared to 133 normally – an increase of 415, or almost three times.

In West Hollywood, 204 couples got licenses and 114 ceremonies made honest men and women out of 228 people.

What hasn't happened is the wrath of an angry God --- no floods, famine, pestilence, plagues of locust or the rest.

So far...

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Article Categories: California, Marriage Equality, LGBTQ