Volunteering to help same-sex couples marry in San Francisco
Imagine the wedding of two people who love each other very much... a beautiful, absolutely indescribable experience. Now imagine the wedding of two people who, until this weekend, had been prevented by law from ever marrying each other. Now multiply that emotional experience several hundred times. Basically, that was my day today.
This morning, I woke up at 6:45 am and drove through the pouring rain to gopackgo's place. Then we carpooled to the Millbrae Bart station and took Bart up to the Civic Center station, and then we walked the extra couple blocks to San Francisco's City Hall.
Hundreds of people camped out on the sidewalk *in the rain* overnight in order to get married, and they were lined up all around the building by the time we got there at 8:45.
We were let in the side entrance before they started letting in any of those who came to get married. We were led into a meeting room, where we met Director of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services Joe Caruso, "Jimmer" Cassiol, and a couple other City Hall bigwigs, and split up into groups. Steve and I chose to help distribute forms and help people fill them out correctly. Mabel Teng gave a rallying speech to the volunteers and applicants, and then we grabbed a few stacks of the necessary forms and staked our claim at the very front of the line.
Right after people walked through the front door and got through the metal detectors, we (and one other guy) were the first to greet and congratulate them, and hand them the necessary paperwork. (By the way, it's an unusual sight to see people being checked with a metal-detecting wand when they have a handful of flowers in their outstretched arms.) At first, we were telling people that the “blue form” was double-sided, so be sure to fill out both sides. After a little while, we stopped calling it the “blue form” when Steve noticed how people really lit up when he mentioned their “marriage certificate application.” People were so happy and grateful to us for volunteering - I can't convey how rewarding an experience this was.
I'd say about 65% of the couples were women, and most were in their 40s and 50s. Many had been together for decades already, and they came from all over the country. Some came with family and friends, some even brought their children.
I took short breaks during the day to go take photographs of couples during their wedding ceremonies. I could have taken better shots which really showed the emotions people were experiencing if I had gotten in closer and used my flash more often, but I didn't want to get too close and invade anyone's privacy - it was their wedding day!
It was an absolutely amazing day, and I'm very glad I volunteered. (It's even better that, as Steve noticed, we're doing our part to piss off George Bush on President's Day!)
After couples had been married and they walked out the door of City Hall, there was a huge crowd there to welcome them with cheers, applause, and flowers. I didn't see one anti-gay protesters (but then again, I was indoors most of the day.) Steve and I left after they had closed up for the day, and there was still a big crowd when we left. We were afraid of ending up in a photo on the cover of the San Francisco Chronicle as a gay couple, so we decided to walk out the front door with a little distance between us. As soon as we walked out, people started cheering, and I thought "Oh no!" But the crowd saw our volunteer badges, and someone shouted "Let's hear it for the volunteers!" and everyone cheered and thanked us - it was pretty embarrassing, but really nice. Someone even handed me a long-stemmed rose.
Below are some of the photos I took... they just can't do it justice though. You had to be there to really feel how incredible an experience it was.
This morning, I woke up at 6:45 am and drove through the pouring rain to gopackgo's place. Then we carpooled to the Millbrae Bart station and took Bart up to the Civic Center station, and then we walked the extra couple blocks to San Francisco's City Hall.
Hundreds of people camped out on the sidewalk *in the rain* overnight in order to get married, and they were lined up all around the building by the time we got there at 8:45.
We were let in the side entrance before they started letting in any of those who came to get married. We were led into a meeting room, where we met Director of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services Joe Caruso, "Jimmer" Cassiol, and a couple other City Hall bigwigs, and split up into groups. Steve and I chose to help distribute forms and help people fill them out correctly. Mabel Teng gave a rallying speech to the volunteers and applicants, and then we grabbed a few stacks of the necessary forms and staked our claim at the very front of the line.
Right after people walked through the front door and got through the metal detectors, we (and one other guy) were the first to greet and congratulate them, and hand them the necessary paperwork. (By the way, it's an unusual sight to see people being checked with a metal-detecting wand when they have a handful of flowers in their outstretched arms.) At first, we were telling people that the “blue form” was double-sided, so be sure to fill out both sides. After a little while, we stopped calling it the “blue form” when Steve noticed how people really lit up when he mentioned their “marriage certificate application.” People were so happy and grateful to us for volunteering - I can't convey how rewarding an experience this was.
I'd say about 65% of the couples were women, and most were in their 40s and 50s. Many had been together for decades already, and they came from all over the country. Some came with family and friends, some even brought their children.
I took short breaks during the day to go take photographs of couples during their wedding ceremonies. I could have taken better shots which really showed the emotions people were experiencing if I had gotten in closer and used my flash more often, but I didn't want to get too close and invade anyone's privacy - it was their wedding day!
It was an absolutely amazing day, and I'm very glad I volunteered. (It's even better that, as Steve noticed, we're doing our part to piss off George Bush on President's Day!)
After couples had been married and they walked out the door of City Hall, there was a huge crowd there to welcome them with cheers, applause, and flowers. I didn't see one anti-gay protesters (but then again, I was indoors most of the day.) Steve and I left after they had closed up for the day, and there was still a big crowd when we left. We were afraid of ending up in a photo on the cover of the San Francisco Chronicle as a gay couple, so we decided to walk out the front door with a little distance between us. As soon as we walked out, people started cheering, and I thought "Oh no!" But the crowd saw our volunteer badges, and someone shouted "Let's hear it for the volunteers!" and everyone cheered and thanked us - it was pretty embarrassing, but really nice. Someone even handed me a long-stemmed rose.
Below are some of the photos I took... they just can't do it justice though. You had to be there to really feel how incredible an experience it was.