Word: newsom
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Newsom told TIME he never expected to be in the middle of a fight for gay marriage: "Gay marriage was not on my radar. No one had asked me what I thought about it, and I had never really given it any thought one way or another." But the Bush State of the Union address changed all that. "I just felt deeply disconnected to my country, about which I care about very much," he said. "So I decided I'd make my stand by marrying one couple, and we decided [in 2004] we'd issue a marriage license for Phyllis...
...time Newsom presided over Lyon and Martin's new marriage on Monday, the battle lines for the fight in the fall had begun to form. Gay marriage opponents held signs and yelled slogans outside courthouses there and in other locations where weddings were about to take place. In addition, California's top Roman Catholic prelate issued a statement reiterating the church's opposition to gay marriage. "The church cannot approve of redefining marriage, which has a unique place in God's creation, joining a man and a woman in a committed relationship in order to nurture and support...
...church's warnings are likely to do little to stem the tide of weddings between now and November. Newsom said there are already 1,670 couples registered for marriage licenses in San Francisco - and another 636 have booked space for weddings at city hall...
...will be those weddings, Newsom told TIME, that will be gay-marriage supporters' best weapon in defeating the amendment. "There are some who just can't get over the idea, the image even, of two men kissing," he said. "But for most Californians, I think, if they just pause and think about what gay marriage means to the people they know, they won't want to take it away. The people getting married are your teachers, your neighbors, your cousins. They are the bus drivers, waiters and waitresses and your doctors. They are going to say, well, I never knew...
...Newsom said that it has been a struggle within his own family to accept his support of gay marriage. "I was educated by the Notre Dame nuns and went to a Jesuit college. It has been a challenge in my own family. Some just don't get it. My father took awhile. He was a judge on the California Court of Appeals and he did not approve of what I was doing [in 2004.] But I told him, just come into city hall. Don't tell anyone who you are, no one will recognize you. Just come by yourself...