San Francisco celebrated a milestone Wednesday.
At city hall, where history was made 20 years ago when then-Mayor Gavin Newsom issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Mayor London Breed, city leaders and members of the community came together.
“We are celebrating the advocacy of so many of those same sex couples,” said Breed. “So many of you are here to carry the torch to make sure that we continue to recognize this significant milestone but more importantly, that we continue to be the beacon of hope as a city for the LGBTQ community,” said Breed.
On Feb. 12, 2004, Newsom directed the city to begin issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples, in what became known as the “winter of love.”
“We fought legal battles for a reason and that was to give people opportunity and to let them celebrate their love,” said Dennis Herrera of the Public Utilities Commission.
On Wednesday, the mayor led vow-renewal ceremonies.
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Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis were there from the start.
“Twenty years ago almost to this day we came into city hall, we got married, it was truly transformative,” said John Lewis. “It was the first time in our lives that we felt like we were being treated like equal human beings.”
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In the following days, San Francisco issued more than 4,000 licenses to same sex couples. Soon, the Supreme Court of California ordered the city to stop. But it set off a chain of events, the legal fight continued in the state and Supreme Court.
“So great, I didn’t know that my heart could feel this way,” said Katherine.
She and Jacqueline Dominguez tied the knot at city hall which welcomed Valentine’s Day couples.
That was the plan, but having it coincide with the 20th year anniversary made it even more significant.
“It was very easy and celebratory and heartfelt knowing that there are so many people here that got to experience this for the first time 20 years ago and fought for this for so long,” said Dominguez.
