Yesterday gay couples and same-sex marriage supporters organized by Marriage Equality USA gathered in San Francisco's City Hall to apply for marriage licenses and protest California's ban on gay marriage. The event is a yearly Valentine's Day tradition at this point, but at least one man — sporting a tuxedo and ready to tie the knot beneath City Hall's picturesque rotunda — was completely oblivious to the inequality he was taking part in.
Bay City News sets the scene in City Hall:
While gay marriage remains not valid in California, same-sex couples are limited to registering with the state as domestic partners, a procedure Jeff Tabaco said "had all the beauty and celebration of a business transaction."Tabaco and Thom Watson are one of the couples waiting for gay marriage to be legalized in California and who went to the clerk's office to ask for a marriage license.
"We know we won't be able to get legally married today," Watson said. "We're asking for that same recognition until it's simply the way things are."
The group walked to the clerk's office while singing the song "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and chanting for marriage equality.
One man in a tuxedo in the rotunda, apparently unaware of the purpose of the chanting, yelled, "We're trying to get married here, have some respect!"
Surprisingly, the peaceful protestors remained calm and managed to not clobber the clueless turd. Some fourteen protestors stayed in the county clerk's office after they were denied a piece of paper telling them they were legally wed. For their touching show of love/act of civil disobedience, the protesters were zip-tied and led out of the building. No one was cited or arrested.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear the Prop 8 case in March. In the meantime, we'll just leave this here:
Previously: All Prop 8 coverage on SFist
[Bay City News/SFEx]
