February 15, 2004
Marriage license demand overwhelms SF officials.
City Hall officials in San Francisco have had to turn away hundreds of lesbian and gay couples that wanted to get marriage licenses. Despite staying open over the weekend and processing license applications faster than they believed possible, officials still have not been able to keep up with the demand.
San Francisco authorities calculated they could process 400 licenses during special weekend hours — but on Saturday they granted 600 licenses and performed 270 weddings by late afternoon. Then officials gave numbers to 320 couples securing them places in line for Sunday.
After quickly distributing another 80 numbers Sunday morning, disappointed couples lined up around the block were asked to return Monday.
"We're at capacity right now," said Mabel Teng, the official who oversees marriage licenses for city government. "We normally do about 20-30 couples a day. We're doing about 50-60 an hour."
Gay and lesbian couples are trying to get in under the wire, as opponents of same-sex marriage will be in court on Tuesday, asking for an emergency injunction to stop SF from issuing more marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Via AP.
Posted by Magpie at February 15, 2004 08:25 PM | TrackBack