A lesbian couple who have shared their
lives for over five decades will become the first couple to wed in
San Francisco City Hall today. Anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church
leader Fred Phelps and his congregation have announced plans to
picket the wedding.
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyons, who were
the first couple to be married in 2004 during the 'Winter of Love',
will be married – this time legally - by Mayor Gavin Newsom in a
ceremony set to begin at 4:30PM. The couple were plaintiffs in the
California Supreme Court decision that ultimately struck down the
State's ban on gay marriage. It will be the only marriage held at San
Fransisco City Hall today.
Tuesday, the city plans to make gay
marriage available to about 130 couples who have made appointments
to obtain a marriage license.
On the Westboro Baptist Church website
godhatesfags.com the group announced their protest with this post,
“We have a message for you [C]alifornia – fags doom nations...
Just as when San Francisco lawlesss[l]y married fags in 2004, WBC
will be there to remind you that it never has been and never will be
okay to be a fag.”
The group also plans to protest gay
weddings as they begin en masse in San Francisco on Tuesday. In a
press release the group said, “WBC will picket the godless and
blasphemous same-sex marriage farce scheduled to take place in
God-forsaken, Hell-bound San Francisco... God Hates Fags &
Fag-Enablers. Ergo, God hates the people participating in the filthy
same-sex marriage orgy and Satanic Sodomitical outrage masquerading
as holy matrimony. GOD HATES CALIFORNIA.”
The Westboro Baptist Church, whose
members mostly include family members, came to national attention
when they started picketing the funeral processions of soldiers
killed during the Iraq war. The organization is headed by Fred
Phelps and based in Topeka, Kansas. Phelps believes dead soldiers
returning from Iraq are God's punishment for American support of gays
and lesbians.
In a email to On Top Magazine,
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), a pro-gay
group, Director of Communications Steve Ralls responded to the
Church's planned protest: “The hatred of Fred Phelps will never be
any match for the love that couples across California are celebrating
today... Not even the darkest forces can cast a shadow over the joy
that so many families, partners and loved ones are treasuring in
California today.”
Photo credit David Shankbone