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Jubilation muted on gay marriage anniversary

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-17 13:02

Gay couple James Reifsnyder-Smith (2nd L) and Frank Reifsnyder (2nd R) pose for a photo with their two-year-old twin children Milo (L) and Kaylee as they celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary in West Hollywood, California, June 16, 2009. The couple were married when same-sex marriages were first allowed last year. [Agencies]

SAN FRANCISCO -- Jonathan Abernethy-Deppe vividly remembers the bustling San Francisco city clerk's office and the happiness of fellow couples last year when California began granting same-sex marriage licenses.

But he and his now-husband, David, say their first anniversary won't be nearly as jubilant. Last month the state Supreme Court upheld a gay-marriage ban while allowing about 18,000 such marriages that occurred last year to stand.

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Abernethy-Deppe said that's put him and his husband in the uncomfortable position of celebrating a right many of their friends don't have.

"We have a debate between us about whether or not we should even accept the benefits that we have from our marriage as long as there are people being discriminated against," he said.

While his husband would rather opt out of the benefits for now, Abernethy-Deppe wants to "take advantage of every benefit and push it to its farthest extent and prove that same-sex marriage is a benefit to society."

Tom Felkner and his husband, Bob Lehman, said they're equally ambivalent about their upcoming anniversary.

"Unfortunately, all of our energies have gone into our disappointment and not celebrating people gaining their civil rights and gaining their equality," Felkner said.

Gay couple Fernando Christopher, 40, (L) and his spouse Michael Domino Christopher, 35, hold hands as they celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary in West Hollywood, California, June 16, 2009. [Agencies]

In the weeks since the Supreme Court's May 26 decision to uphold ballot measure known as Proposition 8, gay marriage proponents have turned their attention toward rallying support for a planned 2010 ballot initiative seeking to again legalize same-sex nuptials.

Meanwhile, two federal lawsuits filed on behalf of gay couples seek to put the issue before the US Supreme Court, including one by famed attorneys Theodore Olson and David Boies, who opposed each other in the 2000 presidential election challenge, Bush v. Gore.

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