This is the most wonderful news I hear this year!    Bravo, same sex marriage!    I cannot wait to tell my wife  about this! 

Tyche Hendricks,Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writers

Thursday, May 15, 2008

(05-15) 10:45 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- There were whoops of joys and hugs and tears among scores of gay rights advocates and same-sex couples this morning outside the California Supreme Court building in San Francisco as word spread that the justices had cleared the way for gay and lesbian marriages.

Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, a gay rights group, ran out of the building on McAllister Street and screamed, "We won!" just after the decision was released at 10 a.m. Many people unfurled California state flags with rainbow stripes sewn on across the bottom.

"This is an incredibly historic day," said Judy Appel, executive director of Our Families Coalition, who is raising two children with her partner in Berkeley. "I'm so thrilled, I'm so excited for what this means for my family and all Californians."

Dave Chandler, who along with his partner, Jeff Chandler, was a plaintiff in the case, said, "I'm just cheering the joy. I'm feeling the joy all over. I feel that our kids will be well-protected when we have all the rights, responsibilities and benefits that married couples enjoy. The state of California has renewed my hope."

He said his partner was at their San Mateo home watching their two children, ages 1 and 4. The couple were married on Valentine's Day 2004 at San Francisco City Hall, one of nearly 4,000 same-sex weddings that were later annulled by the state Supreme Court.

Stuart Gaffney hugged his partner and proclaimed, "We're going to be newlyweds after 21 years together."

David Bowers and his partner were the first in line at the court clerk's office and the first to get a copy of the decision. The couple were also married at City Hall in 2004.

"That was one of the best things of my life. This is the next best thing," Bowers said. "There's tears everywhere. This can't be bad."

Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said of the four justices who voted in favor of gay marriage, "I believe all four votes will be vindicated by history."

The three other justices, "in some future day, will wish they could take it back," she said.

"This is a wonderful day to be alive and to be in this movement," Kendell said.