West Hollywood: 'What better place?'

June 17, 2008 | 12:04 pm

Hundreds of casually dressed couples waited in Disneyland-style queues to be married at a recreation center here, but weddings were delayed because computers had printed out licenses that said “Bride” and “Groom.”

After an hour, a technician fixed the glitch, so that the documents would read “Partner A” and “Partner B.” The couples passed near eight satellite trucks and ran a gantlet of photographers before entering the building.

A handful of protesters stood nearby, with a man in a devil mask holding a sign that read “Pervert weddings done here” and “Smile, Satan loves you.” Another man shouted, “This is an abomination, this is rebellion against God!”

The crowd, a mix of young and old and different races, largely ignored them.

“That’s OK. They have their rights. God loves them as much as God loves us,” said Edwin Goodman, 62. “I think they paid vagabonds to do this. It’s the same bunch that were in Beverly Hills last night.”

Goodman stood with his partner, JB Payne, 64. The west Valley couple woke up at 1 a.m. and arrived in West Hollywood at 3:30 a.m. to claim the seventh spot in line. They held eight red roses to symbolize the number of years they have been together, and wore orchid leis.

“We love each other,” Goodman said. “That’s all this is about.” They marveled at how far the gay-rights movement had come in their lifetimes. They said they chose to wed in West Hollywood because of the city’s iconic status.

“It’s like I know it’s happening. It’s just so hard to believe we’ve come to this point in this country’s history, where same-sex people can get married,” said Goodman, who grew up in a Southern Baptist family where people prayed if they learned someone was gay. “This is the day. For just the historical significance, what better place than West Hollywood?”

Nearby, Mayra Tinoco, 17, and Yuri Gomez, 19, stood in the shade of a magnolia tree with Tinoco’s father Jose, and Gomez’s three-year-old daughter. The couple has been together a year, and Gomez planned to take Tinoco’s name.

Jose Tinoco accompanied the couple to sign consent forms since Tinoco is underage. The family was not always so accepting.

“They took me to counseling, they took me to church,” she said. “They did all kinds of things. They tried baptizing me all over again.”

Her father is a devout Catholic from Guanajuato whose living-room nativity is a well-known local attraction. The 61-year-old said he struggled with his daughter’s sexual orientation.

“I didn’t accept it at first. It took me time to relax,” he said. “God made them so why discriminate. I accept Mayra and Yuri; it just took time to do so.”

-- Joe Mozingo

L.A. NOW

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West Hollywood: 'What better place?'