Wedding, Frisco style

National | GAY MARRIAGE: Courts had no speedy remedy for the San Francisco mayor's civil disobedience, but his bogus marriage licenses were thwarted by a paperwork technicality | Lynn Vincent

Conservatives have to admit that sometimes bureaucracy is a good thing. The same-sex wedding boom in San Francisco run by Mayor Gavin Newsom hit a bureaucratic snag when the California health department said it will not register or record any marriage licenses that differ from VS 113, the standard, state-approved form.

San Francisco officials have since Feb. 12 used an altered marriage license application approved by city attorney Dennis Herrera. Where "bride" and "groom" appear on VS 113, the altered version reads "applicant one" and "applicant two."

The official state form reflects three California laws that describe marriage as the union between a man and a woman. "If the exact form is not used, or if it has been filled out incorrectly," health department spokesman Tony Cava told WORLD, "it will be returned to [San Francisco]."

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February 28, 2004, Vol. 19, No. 8

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