Thanks, Mayor Newsom for being such a great leader on this issue. I will never forget that day in February 2004 when I just happened to drive by City Hall and saw thousands of couples lined up to exercise their rights to marry. That remains my favorite San Francisco moment of all time. Here's hoping we'll continue to have such moments of joy!

Welcome, Mayor Newsom!

Hope you'll stick around and keep sharing your thoughts on other issues after we defeat this horrific measure, Mayor Newsom.

Mayor Newsom,

Thanks for being such a leader for us on this important issue. Know that your efforts are not just meaningful to the "elites" of San Francisco that seem to receive mention at each McCain/Palin rally. I'm a straight white guy from small-town America and I know that marriage equality is good for all of us. I'm a poor grad student, but I just gave $5 to No on Prop 8 thanks to this post.

Equal rights are human rights, and I for one hope to usher in a new era for our country by celebrating an Obama victory AND the resounding defeat of this hateful legislation. Cheers!

Thank you Mayor Newsom! A lot of people, including gay and lesbian people, criticized your decision to go forward with same sex marriages. Your courage has made it possible for me and my partner to marry - legally for now. We plan to do so on election day in Sacramento. You're a hero.

A Newsom quote: "like it or not!". Four words that may sink our chances at marriage equality in California.

BobbyJean: Public utterances like these, on an issue like this, is not what I call great leadership.

Thanks, Gavin. Nice to have you here, especially on this.

I think I know how some of the Europeans feel about Obama: the outcome here will have a huge impact on them, but they can't vote.

I can't vote on Prop 8 from Colorado, but I'm sure pulling for you guys. It would be nice to be able to marry a guy before I actually find one.

Thank you so much for getting this ball rolling back when you forced the issue back in SF. We'll never forget that you did that for us.

God help you tomorrow.

Thanks, Gavin, for coming here. I wish you'd done so a few months ago, similar to the only criticism I have for the "No on 8" coalition is that they waited to late to put out the Good commercials; get the Great endorsements; make it what it should be, a Civil Rights issue!

Decades down the road, they'll wonder what the big deal is. I pray that enough of that hindsight will aid us tomorrow.

Oh, and Gavin, I've heard you on Alice in the Morning, you can speak for yourself. Redo this page and do maybe two to three short paragraphs describing yourself and your ideals. Get your PR guy/gal to put up another page where they can put out a press release such as is shown in your Bio at left. I'm not criticizing, Gavin, I love you, I think you're just what this country needs, and whenever I think the soles of your shoes are leaking hubris, you go and do somethign like the insurance initiative. It's truly impossible for some restaurants to offer, but that more than brilliantly puts into focus the fact that universal insurance is imperative and it's up to all of us to get 'er done. I'm speaking only for myself, but I'd like to see you come back here and scribble a few things - think of it as your late night muse - and we can help you, I know we can!

You can keep the links, though. I like links.

Thank you. :) Wish I lived in your city.

My fingers are crossed for the same-sex couples in CA and those who aspire to a future that holds the promise of a lifetime commitment recognized by all and sanctioned by law. I am proud to have been a resident of Massachusetts when the right to marriage was made available to every loving couple who sought it and brought my children to the first wedding at Arlington Street Church where two men made their decades-long commitment official. As a heterosexual black citizen of this country, I believe equal marriage is THE civil rights issue of our time and pledge my support to the cause.

My fingers are crossed for the same-sex couples in CA and those who aspire to a future that holds the promise of a lifetime commitment recognized by all and sanctioned by law. I am proud to have been a resident of Massachusetts when the right to marriage was made available to every loving couple who sought it and brought my children to the first wedding at Arlington Street Church where two men made their decades-long commitment official. As a heterosexual black citizen of this country, I believe equal marriage is THE civil rights issue of our time and pledge my support to the cause.

My fingers are crossed for the same-sex couples in CA and those who aspire to a future that holds the promise of a lifetime commitment recognized by all and sanctioned by law. I am proud to have been a resident of Massachusetts when the right to marriage was made available to every loving couple who sought it and brought my children to the first wedding at Arlington Street Church where two men made their decades-long commitment official. As a heterosexual black citizen of this country, I believe equal marriage is THE civil rights issue of our time and pledge my support to the cause.

I don't vote in CA anymore, if I did I'd vote against Prop. 8 twice.

Thinking that you're making marriage more secure by denying it to someone is like thinking that making sure somebody else loses their coat will make you warmer.

I got to tell you Mayor Newsom. Sometimes I wish you hadn't made that "Whether you like it or not" statement...it certainly has become the battle cry of the enemy...and frankly it plays so much on TV and the radio its been driving me a little crazy. I wonder in hindsight, if you too, wish those words hadn't been uttered. But your motivation was passionate and understandable.

My wife and I are Californians...and we believe civil rights are for everyone and will always fight against discrimination!

We are voting NO on prop 8!

It would be wise of us mothers to consider the short and long-term ramifications that gay marriage ratification. With all due respect to those who are against gay marriage because it offends their religious sensibility - that should have little standing if we are to embrace the separation of church and state in determining law. What should be central to this debate is how the proposed change would effect marital law. In my humble opinion, it will further diminish the rights of mothers and children. In these last 30 years, the protection of mothers and their children have declined. Judges and lawmakers no longer consider these issues paramount to our society. Considering that 50% of marriage end in divorce and we have a nation of single mothers struggling mightily to raise and support their children, it would be wise of us to keep things as they are. That does not mean gay couples should be denied rights, it means that we must keep the few laws left that protect mothers and children of divorce from devolving into the entirely inconsequential. There must be a better way to handle the issue without causing the kind of harm that will surely ensue.

Thank you for trying.