Par-tay!
All over America, gay youth debate who to bring to California to marry.  San Francisco gets ready for the pending nuptials, as the Tourism Board goes into overdrive:

Nationally, gay tourism amounts to a $60 billion-a-year industry. Thanks to Thursday’s ruling by the state Supreme Court striking down the ban on same-sex marriage, California stands to become a destination spot for gay and lesbian couples from around the world who want to get hitched.

And San Francisco is hoping for the biggest slice of the wedding cake.

No sooner did the court decision come down than the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau fired off a release to the gay press, inviting couples to get married in the city where "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history continues to be made."

"The beauty of it is, all the news reports have made this a San Francisco thing because we led the charge," said visitors bureau chief Joe D’Allesandro, who is likely to get married to his partner as soon as the court’s decision takes effect within the next month.

Unlike Massachusetts, the only other state with gay nuptials, California doesn’t limit marriages to residents of the state – so same-sex couples could pour in from all over.

Mayor Gavin Newsom received some well-deserved publicity for his courageous civil-rights stance more than four years ago, as the California Supremes determined that marriage is a constitutional right that can’t be taken away by a referendum of the electorate. Some things, it seems, aren’t subject to the tyranny of the majority.

"It’s about love, dignity, and civil rights. It’s about time," said a beaming Newsom, who has faced repeated criticism from both anti-gay activists and some Democratic leaders for his pro-gay marriage stance. "By the way, as California goes, so goes the rest of the nation."

Newsom mentor Dianne Feinstein, who blamed him for doing "too much, too fast, too soon" — and costing the Democrats the White House in 2004 — accepted the Court’s ruling as a sign that times have changed:

"It’s become apparent to me that the views of Californians are changing in this regard, and becoming much more favorable with respect to recognizing the social and economic bonds that marriage provides — regardless of the sex of the individuals," Feinstein said in a statement. 

Some in our community recognized that this day, while a sweet victory, came with a bitter price:

Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who took part in the City Hall gathering, stood at the bottom of the staircase and in between smiles could be seen frowning at times. He said while he was overjoyed by the court ruling he was also saddened thinking about the recent death of Lawrence King, the Oxnard teenager killed by a classmate because he was gay.

"I think it is a win for justice and a win for California and a win for the future. I thought about the future generations of young people who will be unfettered by knowing they can attain love and marriage in their lives," said Dufty. "I also thought about Lawrence King today, that was on my mind. I thought how tragic it is that in a time where we have this watershed civil rights moment for the LGBT community at the same time this 15-year-old boy can still be gunned down in his classroom for being gay."

Oh — and the bash? It started the day the Supreme Court ruled, for one Sacramento man and three anti-social miscreants.

Three Sacramento men have been arrested after a beating that law enforcement officials describe as a hate crime against homosexuals, police said Friday.

The Thursday evening incident at a Sacramento gas station came just hours after the California Supreme Court issued a ruling overturning a state ban on same-sex marriages.

A 23-year-old Sacramento man was sitting with another man in a car near the station’s restroom when the three suspects asked if he was a homosexual, Sacramento Police Officer Michelle Lazark said.

The man said he was. When he got out of the car, the three men beat and kicked him, Lazark said. He did not require medical treatment.

It was not immediately clear if the suspects were reacting to the court’s ruling, Lazark said.

"It’s a gay-bashing. Gay slurs were used before they commenced to beating him," she said. "I don’t know if these guys were looking for someone or are just ignorant."

Regardless of the patchwork of state and local codes enacted wherever enlightened people have legalized their neighbors’ protection from bigotry, there are some truths still true for most Americans, if we’re GLBT.

Americans remain unprotected in our workplaces, if we’re GLBT.

Americans remain unprotected in our homes, if we’re GLBT.

Americans remain unprotected in our families, if we’re GLBT.

Americans remain unsafe just sitting in a car at the corner gas station, if we’re GLBT.

But in California, we’ll soon be free to marry. Start the bash.

{youtube of the VGL Gay Boys (Jeffery and Cole) courtesy of  JefferySelf, h/t Lane Hudson}

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