North Hills pair who initiated suit to legalize same-sex unions will be among first to wed

For Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, the next Valentine's Day will come early - Monday evening when they become one of the first two same-sex couples to legally marry in California.

"We've waited a long time for this, and it really won't matter if we're the first or just one of the first," Olson said. "We're just on cloud nine that we can marry."

The two North Hills women, who have been partners for 15 years, were original plaintiffs in the historic lawsuit that revolutionized California's nuptial laws when the state Supreme Court ruled last month that the ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional.

When they exchange vows at 5:01 p.m. Monday before a Jewish rabbi in front of the Beverly Hills courthouse, they will return to where, for the past eight Valentine's Days, they have attempted to get a marriage license - and each time have been turned down at the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office window.

"Now we're going back to get married at ground zero of the fight for same-sex marriage in California, which is Beverly Hills," Tyler said.

Acting Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan announced Thursday he would issue an early marriage license to Tyler and Olson "in recognition of their unique role in the court's decision."

Similar arrangements were made in San Francisco to allow Mayor Gavin Newsom to officiate at the marriage of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon on Monday evening. Martin and Lyon were the Advertisement first same-sex couple to marry during the 2004 "Winter of Love" in that city, but this time their wedding will be legal.

The two ceremonies will precede the thousands expected to take place in California beginning Tuesday morning when marriage licenses can legally be issued to same-sex couples.

"Our marriage-equality lawsuit became the Trojan horse, an exquisite wedding gift to all of us, in which all of our other legal rights rode to victory in the state of California," said Tyler, 66, who owns a travel business with Olson and is a longtime gay-rights activist.

Olson, 54, who also owns a small business of her own in Beverly Hills, is the granddaughter of Culbert Levy Olson, governor of California from 1938 to 1942.

"My grandfather would be very proud of us today," said Olson, whose late father, John Olson, was a former Municipal and Superior Court judge in Los Angeles.

Tyler and Olson's marriage, a Jewish wedding, will be officiated by Rabbi Denise Eger of Kol Ami Synagogue in West Hollywood.

Their roles as pioneers in the issue have only recently become widely credited by activists and the news media, which often had focused on San Francisco, where Newsom began marrying gay couples until the courts stopped him.

But Tyler and Olson, along with two other Los Angeles co-defendants, filed the first lawsuit challenging the state's marital law through high-powered attorney Gloria Allred.

Last week, as they were making arrangements for their historic wedding, they recalled that their original 2004 lawsuit made negative waves even within the gay and lesbian communities.

"The truth is we started this lawsuit against everybody telling us we would lose," said Tyler, who also blogs for The Huffington Post. "But a lot of the people who shunned us for filing this lawsuit are the same ones who are now getting a lot of credit."

"We stepped out of the loop," Olson said. "(Some gay activists) were mad at us that we didn't go through a gay law firm to do this. (But) Gloria (Allred) has been a friend of ours for a long time. They kept telling Robin: `Wait. Wait. It'll be political suicide. Don't rock any boats. It's too soon. It's a Republican-appointed Supreme Court.'

"I said, `I'm not afraid of conservatives if they'll interpret the Constitution."'

Last month's Supreme Court decision has opened the way to a political showdown in the November general election in which California voters ultimately could decide the fate of same-sex marriage by voting on a ballot measure amending the state constitution to outlaw gay nuptials.

Attempts by opponents of same-sex marriage to stop the issuance of licenses to gay couples until the Legislature has the opportunity to change the laws have all been denied by the courts.

"Only the California Legislature and the voters through the initiative process have the constitutional authority to make new laws," said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families.

That group on Thursday asked the San Francisco-based 1st District Court of Appeal to block county clerks from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Gay-marriage-rights lawyers called the legal move "frivolous" and predicted it, too, would fail.

Meanwhile, the court's ruling has led to a summer of entitlement for gay-rights advocates and their supporters while potentially lending a badly needed boost by pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the state's sagging economy.

Gay couples are projected to spend $684 million on flowers, cakes, hotels, photographers and other wedding services over the next three years - so long as the ballot measure banning same-sex marriage isn't approved, according to a study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

About 2,200 jobs are expected to be created by the same-sex nuptial rush, with the study estimating that over the next three years, gay weddings will generate $64 million in additional tax revenue for the state, and $9 million more in marriage license fees for counties.

"If California is making money, people are less likely to (vote for) the damn ballot measure," Olson said.

Tyler's and Olson's wedding and the kickoff of legalized same-sex marriages come barely more than a week after the L.A. Pride celebrations, commemorating gay pride.

In San Francisco, the annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade and Celebration will be June28, when City Hall there will be open for marriages.

Pacifica Network radio announced last week it will air the first national broadcast of a same-sex wedding when Linda Martinez and Regina Rodriguez of Walnut exchange vows at 8 a.m. Friday, with the microphones of Los Angeles network affiliate KPFK-FM (90.7) close by to beam the ceremony to more than 100 stations.

The Martinez-Rodriguez wedding will be held at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center at the Village at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N. McCadden Place, Los Angeles.

In Ventura County, among the same-sex couples who will be getting their marriage licenses Tuesday will be Ann Teitelbaum and Darlene Fisher of Simi Valley, who have been together 21 years. They plan to marry July 26 at Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church in Canoga Park.

Meanwhile, at their North Hills home in a 1-acre compound near the campus of California State University, Northridge, Tyler and Olson were busily making last-minute arrangements for their wedding, which will be attended by family, friends and supporters.

The couple marched in last Sunday's L.A. Pride parade with relatives, and they were roundly cheered. The past days have been spent consulting with the rabbi marrying them and handling an onslaught of media interviews.

"We have fought long and hard for the right to be married," Tyler said, "and now, with the moment almost at hand, our feeling is, `Let them eat cake - with us, our wedding cake."'

IF YOU GO

To accommodate the anticipated crush of same-sex couples seeking licenses and ceremonies beginning Tuesday, the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office announced it has expanded service at its Norwalk headquarters as well as expanded availability for civil marriage ceremonies in Beverly Hills and five district offices throughout Los Angeles County.

The Norwalk office will be open extended hours on weekdays starting Tuesday and continuing through June 27 from 8 a.m. through 5 p.m. issuing licenses, and it will remain open through 8 p.m. to perform civil marriage ceremonies as needed.

District offices will maintain their regular business hours, but ceremonies will be available daily at all locations. The Norwalk office will hold a marriage event from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, when couples can apply for licenses and ceremonies that will be performed in a marriage tent where a dozen deputy civil marriage commissioners will be on hand to officiate.

In West Hollywood, city officials said they will begin issuing marriage licenses at 9 a.m. Tuesday and scheduling appointments for civil ceremonies. The licenses will be issued at the West Hollywood Park auditorium, 647 N. San Vicente Blvd.