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Gay couples rush to tie the knot in California

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Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:00a.m.

A controversial proposition, that could outlaw same sex marriages in California, has led to an influx of gay weddings in the state, as couples fear they are running out of time to tie the knot.

Hundreds of same sex couples are rushing to marry before November 4 to avoid the possible effects of Proposition 8.

The California Attorney General said marriages performed before Election Day will still be valid, even if the proposition passes.

The rush to wed is overwhelming San Francisco's City Hall, which expanded its wedding hours to try and accommodate hundreds of requests for marriage licenses.

Long time couple Bartholomew Casimir and Edward Rulief Kelley exchanged vows and rings on Tuesday, admitting they were catching they were catching their "window of opportunity just in case".

Organisers on both sides of the debate held rallies on Tuesday.

Recent polls show California voters are nearly equally divided for and against Proposition 8 which would change the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Voters will decide the measure on November 4.

Since same-sex marriage became legal in California in mid-June, at least 11,000 couples have exchanged vows statewide, according to the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, based at UCLA.

AP

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Comments [2]

Alien
22 Oct 2008 11:38p.m.

Micahel you might want to learn your history. Gay marriage has been around for a very long time, and used to be performed in churches 100's of years ago. In fact there is much history that also shows that the modern day version of marriage has been taken from gay marriages of the past.

And before you use the word every, you might want to learn what you are talking about, go learn about gay marriage performed by jewish ministers. There are churches in Europe, Russia, that have been performing gay marriages for hundreds of years.

I just don't know why homophobes cant get their facts straight instead of attacking media

Michael
22 Oct 2008 9:50p.m.

So the view of every society, every race, every creed, every religion, every culture, every country, (until very recently), that has been held for millennia i.e that marriage is between a man and a woman, is now seen as a "controversial proposition". It is clear the media are becoming more and more biased in their reporting of such issues, and the public are becoming more and more uncritical in their thinking.

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