The Advocate Presents: Gay Marriage in California

In May 2008 the California Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had a constitutional right to marry, and on the evening of June 16 the first weddings began, with longtime activists Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin exchanging vows at San Francisco City Hall after more than fifty years together. The Advocate, the country's leading LGBTQ news magazine, was there for the days that followed, and this Here TV special assembles its coverage of the highs and lows of that moment. Directed by Michael Eldridge, it captures the joy of long-awaited ceremonies and the awareness that opponents were already organizing a November ballot measure, Proposition 8, to undo the ruling. More than 18,000 couples married in the window before that vote. Seen today, the program is a vivid time capsule of a hard-won and briefly fragile victory in the fight for marriage equality.