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COPYRIGHT 2004 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Any reuse, distribution or alteration without express written permission of Newsweek is prohibited. For permission: www.newsweek.com
Byline: Karen Breslau and Brad Stone, With Debra Rosenberg and Tamara Lipper
Moved by news footage of thousands of same-sex couples waiting patiently in the rain for hours for the chance to get a marriage license, Mike Trevinson boarded a plane in Dallas last Thursday and flew to San Francisco. On his way to city hall, Trevinson bought six dozen roses. Marrying his own longtime partner was not an option. "He comes from a small town and no one would understand," says Trevinson, 35. So instead he contented himself as a witness to the joy of strangers, handing long-stemmed beauties to couples as they climbed the marble staircase under the grand rotunda to recite their vows. "I just wanted to make a contribution," says Trevinson, a writer. "These people desperately need support."
As if reliving its glory days as a counter-culture mecca in the 1960s, San Francisco was again the place to be. The city's Winter of Love was launched just before Valentine's Day, when Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the city clerk to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, in defiance of California state law. By the end of last week, nearly 3,200 same-sex couples had wed at city hall, and neither Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who supports domestic partnerships but not full marriage rights for gays, nor the blizzard of lawsuits filed by...
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