A supporter of same-sex marriage at San Francisco City Hall after Proposition 8 was overturned.
It remains unclear if Judge Vaughn Walker will lift his stay on same-sex marriages or keep it in place during the appeals process, but San Francisco wants to be prepared just in case.
In the event that Judge Walker gives the go-ahead for same-sex marriages to begin, San Francisco will extend its County Clerk's hours and has put a call out for volunteers to help facilitate the anticipated rush of marriages.
San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting says in2008, while same-sex marriages were legal, San Francisco conducted about 100 ceremonies a day.
Walker's overturning of Proposition 8 was accompanied by a stay, which delayed same-sex marriages until further notice. That's created a lot of confusion.
San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting's Twitter page
Indeed, Ting's Twitter feed mirrors the uncertainty of the past few days. From Wednesday morning's "Waiting for Prop 8 ruling today," to Wednesday afternoon's "Judge strikes down ban on same-sex marriage. Looks like we can start issuing marriage licenses in SF!!!" to 26 minutes later when Ting corrected himself: "Judge Walker issued a temporary stay so we won't be issuing same sex marriage licenses today." Then there’s today's announcement of extended hours.
The details:
If the stay is lifted, San Francisco's County Clerk's office will be open until 8:00p.m. tonight and from 9a.m. to 5p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
If you are interested in volunteering (mostly processing paperwork) e-mail Craig.Dziedsic@sfgov.org. A training will be held at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow at City Hall in Room 34.
