Kamala Harris reunites with gay couple she married 20 years ago on Valentine’s Day
In 2004, same-sex marriage was briefly legal during San Francisco’s “Winter of Love.”
By Bil Browning for LGBTQ Nation –
Vice President Kamala Harris has been a part of history several times. She’s not just the first female and first Black second-in-command; during San Francisco’s “Winter of Love” in 2004, she was among the first government officials to perform a same-sex wedding.
She did it on Valentine’s Day. Now, 20 years later, she was reunited with the loving couple in a Facetime conversation to help them celebrate their wedding anniversary.
Then-Mayor Gavin Newsom’s (D) unprecedented decision to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in the city caused upheaval in California. It lasted for 29 days before the state supreme court shut it down and nullified all of the 4,000 weddings that had taken place.
Harris, then a district attorney, was one of the officiants. Bradley Witherspoon and Raymond Cabone were one of the couples.
“It was a very emotional day. I remember crying, and looking over and seeing Kamala crying, and hugging each other at the end of it,” Cabone said. He had previously worked for a consulting firm that did business with the city and knew her professionally.
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photo: California Attorney Geneneral Kamala Harris (R) speaks to media after marrying same-sex couple Kris Perry (L) and Sandy Stier (C) at San Francisco’s City Hall in California on Friday, June 28, 2013. The 9th Circuit Court lifted the stay on same-sex marriage in California, immediately sending a flurry of soon-to-be married couples to City Hall.
Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
