Kris Perry and Sandy Stier took each other as "lawfully wedded wife."
The lead plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned California’s same-sex marriage ban tied the knot today at San Francisco City Hall, about an hour after a federal appeals court freed same-sex couples to obtain marriage licenses for the first time in four and a half years.
State Attorney General Kamala Harris presided at the wedding of Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, of Berkeley, as hundreds of supporters looked on and cheered. The couple sued to overturn the state’s voter-approved gay marriage ban along with Jeff Katami and Paul Zarrillo, of Burbank, who planned to marry this evening at Los Angeles City Hall.
“By joining the case against Proposition 8, they represented thousands of couples like themselves in their fight for marriage equality,” Harris, who had asked the appeals court to act swiftly, said during Stier and Perry’s brief ceremony. “Through the ups and downs, the struggles and the triumphs, they came out victorious.”
Harris declared Perry, 48, and Stier, 50, “spouses for life,” but during their vows, they took each other as “lawfully wedded wife.” One of their twin sons served as ring bearer.
Although the couple fought for the right to wed for years, their wedding came together in a flurry when a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a brief order this afternoon dissolving, “effective immediately,” a stay it imposed on same-sex marriages while the lawsuit challenging the ban advanced through the courts.
Sponsors of California’s same-sex marriage ban called the appeals court’s swift action “outrageous.”
“The resumption of same-sex marriage this day has been obtained by illegitimate means. If our opponents rejoice in achieving their goal in a dishonorable fashion, they should be ashamed,” said Andy Pugno, general counsel for a coalition of religious conservative groups that sponsored Proposition 8.
“It remains to be seen whether the fight can go on, but either way, it is a disgraceful day for California,” Pugno said.