One Year Anniversary of the Marriages in San Francisco

A crowd of 3,000 gay men and lesbians packed into the San Francisco City Hall rotunda on Saturday for a raucous event that became as much a pep rally for the mayor as a commemoration of the same-sex marriages that were performed in the same venue one year ago.

The wedding licenses Newsom’s administration issued for four weeks last winter were later invalidated by the state Supreme Court, which ruled that Newsom had exceeded his authority in allowing gay couples to marry. In December, the underlying case addressing the constitutionality of the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was heard in San Francisco Superior Court. That court is expected to issue a ruling any day.

Though Newsom was widely criticized for helping to energize a conservative electorate and re-elect George Bush, he has said he has no regrets and has continued to strike an unapologetic tone in his public comments. He took aim yesterday at President Bush, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic senator from California who said after the election that the push for gay marriage was “too much, too fast, too soon.”

”I’ve never felt more resolved,“ Newsom told the crowd. “I don't care what happens to me, I care what happens to you and to this country.” (source)