Beginning at 5:01 p.m. Monday, California same-sex couples will have the right to marry, but most counties are waiting until Tuesday morning to begin issuing marriage licenses and conducting ceremonies for couples who wish a non-denominational ceremony.

In San Francisco, only one couple who was a plaintiff in the landmark suit that legalized gay marriage will be allowed to marry this evening.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will preside over the wedding ceremony of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, a lesbian couple who have been partners more than 50 years. When they exchange vows, Martin, 87, and Lyon, 83, who have been together since they moved into a Castro Street apartment on Valentine's Day in 1953, will become the first same-sex couple to be legally married in the state.

Robin Tyler and Diane Olson will be the first couple in Los Angeles to be married today, at the Beverly Hills courthouse just after 5 pm. They've been together for 15 years and tried to obtain a marriage license from the state on the last eight Valentine's Days.

Tomorrow, county clerks across the state will begin issuing marriage licenses to any and all gay and straight couples who request them. More than 600 same-sex couples in San Francisco alone have made appointments to obtain them.

California's economy is poised for a multi-million-dollar windfall as same-sex marriages get underway, with the tourist sector eyeing a bonanza as gays and lesbians flock to the state to tie the knot.

Analysts say that a mini-industry will sprout up as California prepares to become the only US state that will allow gays and lesbians from outside the region to get hitched on its soil. Massachusetts, the only other US state to allow same-sex marriage, forbids non-residents from exchanging vows there.

That fact leaves California free to monopolize the same-sex wedding market.

According to a University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) study published earlier this week, around 51,000 of the 102,000 same-sex couples living in California are expected to marry over the next three years.

"Spending by resident same-sex couples on their weddings and by out-of-state couples ... will boost California's economy by over 683.6 million dollars in direct spending over the next three years," the UCLA study reported, adding that the new industry would create around 2,100 new jobs.

Last update: 01-31-2009 14:13