For California Couples, Uncertainty on Gay Marriage Turns From ‘If?’ to ‘When?’

By Channon Hodge and Jordan Ehrlich

A California Couple Celebrates Equality: David and Bob Schneiderman, who have been together for more than 20 years, said the best thing about the Supreme Court's decision was sharing the news with family.

LOS ANGELES — For nearly a year now, Alex Webster has painstakingly planned her July wedding to her longtime partner, Sasha Klein. They chose a location, hired a caterer and even wrote the ceremony. They just did not know whether it would be legal.

And even with a decision from the Supreme Court effectively permitting legal gay marriage in California, one basic question remained unanswered: When would same-sex marriages actually begin to happen again?

While Gov. Jerry Brown urged local officials to begin taking steps to issue marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples immediately, public officials and legal scholars said it would probably be about a month before those marriages could be performed. When a lower court threw out the state's ban on same-sex marriage, it issued a stay on new marriages while the case wound its way through the Supreme Court.

So for Ms. Webster, Ms. Klein and other gay and lesbian couples in the state, the decision prompted a mix of elation and confusion. And yet, across the country, gay rights advocates welcomed the court's decision as a significant victory at a time when public opinion is shifting sharply.

"We're going to be celebrating, without a doubt," Ms. Webster, 26, said from her apartment in Davis, Calif. "I've been looking all over to understand what I need to do and when. All of the sudden, we have a lot more questions to deal with, but I've never been happier about that."

At a packed San Francisco City Hall, people stood in silence waiting for the decision to be blared on a big screen. Deafening shouts of joy echoed across the rotunda when the news came that the Defense of Marriage Act had been struck down. But there was mere chatter and a smattering of applause as they saw news of the ruling on California's ballot measure banning same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8.

In West Hollywood, as people ran to the streets honking horns and donning rainbow flags in celebration, some advocates initially believed weddings could start this week. And while it soon became clear that the change would not come so quickly, that fact did little to dampen their enthusiasm.

"Today is the first day I feel like a real citizen in my country," said Kathleen Sullivan, 47, who has been with her partner, Rebecca Levison, for 15 years. The two married in Oregon in 2004, but the marriage was later annulled by the state. While Ms. Levison said she would run to a California courthouse at the first chance she could marry, Ms. Sullivan said she was eager to plan an event that her entire family could attend. "Now it's easy for them to understand," she said. "It's marriage, just like your marriage. And that acknowledgment is really important to me."

Kamala Harris, the state attorney general and a longtime supporter of same-sex marriage, wrote in a letter to Mr. Brown that the state's Department of Public Health "can and should" tell county officials that they must resume issuing and recording marriage licenses for same-sex couples as soon as the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit lifts the stay.

A spokesman for the Ninth Circuit said that typically it waits 25 days after the Supreme Court decision is finalized. Backers of Proposition 8 said they expected to continue the legal battle, arguing that the lower court's decision applied only in San Francisco and Alameda Counties, where the two couples who sued are from. But during a news conference in Los Angeles, Ms. Harris said she would urge the court to act more quickly and that she would fight any county clerk who refused to issue licenses.

"As soon as they lift that stay, marriages are on — the wedding bells will ring," she said. "It will happen in all 58 counties."

Hours after hearing the court's ruling, Bruce Schwartzmann, 55, and Kurt Harris, 48, went to a post office in San Francisco to mail the invitations to their October wedding. For months now, they had felt confident that the court would strike down Proposition 8. Both have been living with AIDS for the last 25 years and said the decisions were a sign of how much the country had changed in their lifetimes.

"It's the end of discrimination," Mr. Harris said. "I was bullied and harassed and teased." He read a message he had written on Facebook: "For years, decades, people told us we were different and we went out of our way to prove them right. And now we've finally come to realize we are no different and we must go out of our way to prove them wrong."

There is likely to be a flurry of weddings throughout the state. Still, for all the celebration, some saw the court's ruling that the backers of Proposition 8 did not have standing as something of a disappointment.

"I am satisfied with the outcome, but I'm not ecstatic in the sense that they took the weakest route," said John Iglar, 41, as he stopped for his morning coffee in West Hollywood. "They chose not to stand up, and instead cover their eyes and ears and let someone else deal with it."

Ms. Webster, too, said she was disappointed that the ruling would not have any impact in dozens of other states. Still, she saw the day as a victory.

By most estimates, her July 13 wedding would take place just eight days before the court is expected to lift the stay, allowing same-sex marriages to begin. And while Ms. Webster said she had no intention of making her ceremony next month a political event, she was considering rewriting parts of the ceremony. Still, she was already searching the Internet for any sign that local officials might somehow begin sooner. Ms. Klein's sister was already planning to officiate, but now the couple is trying to determine whether she should become ordained by the state.

"We have never had the opportunity to think about what it means to have something legally significant, not only a commitment to each other in front of our families," Ms. Webster said. "It's an honor to think about what that means for our marriage now."

Ian Lovett contributed reporting from West Hollywood, and Thomas Gorman from San Francisco.

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