Courtesy of Andy Wong/Asian Equality
From L to R: Anna Hamai, Amy Haruyama, Akemi Hamai, and Maya Haruyama
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SAN FRANCISCO — California’s highest court will take up the national gay marriage debate today, hearing arguments on the constitutionality of a voter-approved law banning same-sex marriage.
Gay rights advocates sued to overturn the ban four years ago after the court halted a monthslong same-sex wedding spree that saw thousands of couples marry at City Hall.
The justices are scheduled to hear three hours of arguments in six cases today. The cases were filed after the court stopped the same-sex marriages in the winter of 2004. More than 4,000 couples exchanged vows at the direction of Mayor Gavin Newsom months before gay marriage became legal in Massachusetts, although the high court ultimately voided the unions.
In briefs submitted to the court, same-sex marriage supporters argued that California’s Constitution leaves no room for denying gays and lesbians the right to wed.
The state and same-sex marriage opponents, however, maintain that limiting marriage to members of the opposite sex is reasonable — not only to uphold tradition but because California voters approved a ballot initiative eight years ago bolstering the gay-marriage ban that was in place at the time. To overturn that law, they say, would abrogate the rights of all Californians.
Here is a look at some of the Asian American couples who were married in San Francisco during the brief period that City Hall issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004. The following story was originally published on June 22, 2007.
San Francisco Pride Parade participants celebrate small victories this month. Last week, Massachusetts lawmakers blocked from reaching voters a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage which would reverse a historic 2003 court ruling legalizing such marriages.
APA Pride and Joy: Celebrating LGBT Marriage and Families
On June 5, the California State Assembly approved Assemblyman Mark Leno’s AB 43, which would allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in the state.
(A similar bill was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005).
Though these couples hope same-sex marriage will one day be legally-recognized throughout the nation, they have already forged vibrant relationships and families.
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Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis |
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San Franciscans Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis waited patiently at a small gathering at Dale Minami’s law office to address presidential candidate John Edwards. “My mother, who is Chinese American, and father would have been unable to get married if the laws against interracial marriage had not been repealed,” Gaffney told Edwards last March. “Now my partner of 20 years and I can’t get married because of existing laws.” Because of his religious upbringing, the senator said he believes in equality for all Americans and that same-sex couples should enjoy the same rights as heterosexual married couples. Still, Edwards stopped short of endorsing marriage equality. Lewis and Gaffney have learned to take things a step at a time and celebrate along the way. After 17 years together, Gaffney and Lewis married on February 12, 2004, the first day San Francisco issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Six months later, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled Mayor Gavin Newsom overstepped his authority in issuing same-sex marriage licenses, voiding all the city’s sanctioned marriages of gay and lesbian couples. “Getting married was a significant rite of passage to becoming a family,” said Gaffney, regardless of the legalities. Gaffney and Lewis are currently San Francisco co-leaders of Marriage Equality California and chief plaintiffs inWoo v. Lockyer, seeking the right to marry for same-sex couples in California. On June 24, the duo will lead the Pride Parade after being elected 2007 San Francisco Pride Parade Grand Marshals. It will be like a wedding reception: for the first time Lewis’ father and only surviving parent will meet Gaffney’s parents. Siblings and extended family — four generations — will converge in San Francisco to join the happy couple. |
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Esther Lee and Lisa Chun and Christopher
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Esther Lee and Lisa Chun met over politics and community organizing. Their first encounter happened more than a decade ago at former San Francisco Supervisor Leslie Katz’s campaign. They solidified their relationship in 1998, around the time Lee went to work for State Senator John Burton. The next year, prompted by looming Knight Initiative threats to same-sex marriages, Lee and Chun registered as domestic partners and set out to plan a life together. After buying a home in Noe Valley, the women joined scores of other couples in a group commitment ceremony at the 2000 S.F. Pride Parade. In August 2003, word came Canada had sanctioned same-sex marriage. With the help of friends and a rush to the jewelers, Lee and Chun married in Vancouver. When Newsom started issuing same-sex marriage licenses six months later, Chun and Lee skipped the City Hall mob scene in favor of in a small private ceremony at Delancey Street on Valentine’s Day 2004. “It shouldn’t have to be about the media,” said Lee. “We wanted what all couples want in a marriage ceremony: a meaningful private ceremony with friends and family, the people you care about.” The couple enjoys a relationship with Chun’s family. Except for her Presbyterian minister brother, Lee’s family has chosen not to have contact with her. “My parents seemed accepting when I came out in college,” said Lee. “But, they’re Korean immigrants and everything is about ‘face’ and image. When I was in a relationship, it became ‘undeniable’ that I was lesbian.” Lee gave birth to Christopher Ericson Kam Wing Chun in 2005; Kam Wing was Chun’s paternal grandfather’s name. The cuddly, talkative 2-year-old is the pride and joy in their lives. Christopher calls Chun “Mommy” and Lee “Omma,” “mommy” in Korean. Lee insists she is the disciplinarian and Chun spoils their son. “I can’t help it,” shrugs Chun. “I waited so long to be a parent.” |
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Amy Haruyama and Akemi Hamai, and Anna and Maya |
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Nine-year-old Maya Haruyama and her sister Anna Hamai, age 5, lead a busy East Bay life filled with basketball, soccer, birthday parties, school activities, and the Buddhist Temple. Moms Amy Haruyama, 39, and Akemi Hamai, 40, met at a UC Santa Cruz Asian student organization meeting. Hamai’s family wasn’t surprised when she came out but worried about how society might treat her. Haruyama’s family was initially upset, in part because of their religious beliefs, but have become more accepting. The couple had a commitment ceremony in 1994 and registered as domestic partners in Berkeley. A decade later, the women and their children waited in line for hours to get married but were cut off eight couples short when San Francisco City Hall was closing. They were ultimately prevented from marrying when the California Supreme Court halted same-sex marriages the day before their appointment. Haruyama and Hamai each had a biological child, and they went through the adoption process to become legal parents to both girls. The couple thinks in time same-sex marriage will be accepted by society and made legal. “When people find out that we really aren’t so different, then they will have a hard time justifying discriminating against us,” reasons Hamai. |
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Maya and MeiBeck Scott-Chung and Luna
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Maya and MeiBeck Scott-Chung have been together for almost a decade. In 1999, they registered in San Francisco as domestic partners and had a commitment ceremony in Golden Gate Park. In the summer of 2003, they tried to get pregnant. “We’re very multi-cultural,” said Maya. “I’m Irish and Scottish and MeiBeck is Mexican and Chinese. We wanted a donor who was Latin and Chinese.” MeiBeck proposed in October 2003, just after the couple’s seventh anniversary. Less than four months later, with news of the San Francisco same-sex marriages, MeiBeck called Maya and said, “Let’s get married.” The couple wed at City Hall on February 13, 2004, the second day of ceremonies. Maya still chokes up thinking about their wedding: the night before, she was like any other bride, wondering what they should wear. The couple waited in line for seven hours. “It was a loving act of civil disobedience and an incredible moment in the City’s history,” reflects Maya, who was two months pregnant at the time. “The ceremony was a solemn moment, binding us into the community, and we realized the right of marriage came with a responsibility.” Daughter Luna was born in 2004: Irish and Scottish from her mother, and Argentinian and Chinese from her known donor father, who is involved in her life. The couple put the surname Scott-Chung on Luna’s birth certificate to protect her, though neither had legally adopted that surname. Becoming “Scott-Chung” for Maya and MeiBeck was a “name change bane.” Assemblywoman Fiona Ma is currently sponsoring a bill that would facilitate name changes for married couples and domestic partners. The couple, who now live in Oakland, registered as domestic partners with the state before Luna was born. When they travel, they often carry a three-ring binder with their domestic partner filings, adoption papers, and power of attorney documents — just in case. |
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Andrew Vu and Thanh Ngo
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“Things are cool with my family,” declared Andrew Vu about his relationship with Thanh Ngo. “Just don’t have a big, open party about it.” The two attorneys got married February 14, 2004, at San Francisco City Hall after nearly eight years together. Ngo characterized the act as more about civil disobedience and less about love; there was no proposal or engagement ring. They waited in line with more than 300 same-sex couples on a cloudy Saturday morning before becoming “spouses for life.” While waiting, Ngo thought about what marriage meant. “Domestic partnership” was a “registration” with the State of California — sterile documentation. Breaking up would merely mean sending a one-page form to the Secretary of State to dissolve the “partnership.” Marriage, however, was the union of two people and their families where values, traditions and wealth are shared and passed on. Family often introduced Ngo as “Andrew’s friend,” with the explanation, “They bought a house together because it is too expensive for single people to buy a house in the Silicon Valley.” Their marriage joined them “in a way that our mortgage never could,” quipped Ngo. |
Courtesy of Andrew Vu and Thanh Ngo
Thanh Ngo (L) and Andrew Vu in Paris.