Dozens Of Same-Sex Couples Wed At SF City Hall Before Pride Weekend

SAN FRANCISCO — There were balloons, there were smiles, there were formal suits and dresses and less traditional garb, and above all there was love as dozens of same-sex couples wed at San Francisco's City Hall Friday.

With the SF Pride Parade and Celebration coming up Sunday, 250 couples got married in what officials described as "a special LBGTQ+ celebration at City Hall."

City spokeswoman Angela Yip on Friday night confirmed that 250 couples wed on Friday, June 23.
While money can't buy love, $98 plus an original government-issued marriage license entitled couples who registered in advance to tie the knot between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Friday's mass marriage took place 10 years after California resumed same-sex unions.

"The County Clerk's Office is proud to have played a role in the historic actions our city government has taken toward equality for people of all genders and sexual orientations," San Francisco City Administrator Carmen Chu and the City Clerk's Office posted on the city website.

In a well-known moment in San Francisco and U.S. history, in 2004 the clerk's office issued its first same-sex marriage license to lesbian activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon under the direction of then-Mayor Gavin Newsom.

In 2013, the office stayed open throughout the weekend to serve couples waiting to wed after the Supreme Court overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriages.

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