BRENDA FALCON - [X]PRESS Wade French, 51, and Brent Lok, 54, kiss while posing for pictures with family and friends after their wedding ceremony at San Francisco's City Hall.

Lok and French started dating in 1978. They were gay activists who met at Stanford University and fought against the Briggs Initiative, which would’ve banned gay teachers from teaching.

In that same year, Harvey Milk, the openly gay supervisor of San Francisco, came to Stanford to present a documentary called “Word Is Out” by Rob Epstein, on homosexual stereotypes. Later that year, Milk was assassinated. It would take more than two decades for gays to finally gain acceptance.

On June 17, 2008, along with 113 other couples, Lok and French, were legally married. It was the first day same-sex couples could obtain marriage licenses in all California counties. The historic occasion took place at City Hall in San Francisco.

That day was exciting for many couples. People held rainbow-colored signs. Supporters handed flowers to newlyweds. And there were barely any protesters.

“I never thought I could be married because I knew I wasn’t going to go the traditional route,” said Willard Rouse II, a newlywed.

Dressed in a blue sweatshirt, with a red Titans baseball cap and a flower in his ear, Willard Rouse II and his spouse traveled to San Francisco, from their home in Tullahoma, Tenn., to get married. On their way, their Tullahoma home burned down. With nothing back to go to, Rouse and his husband decided to make San Francisco - “the best city in the world”- their new home.

Tyler Barrick, 27, and Spencer Jones, 29, proudly held their homemade ‘newlyweds’ sign outside of City Hall. They sat on a ledge grinning, with prom corsages pinned to their polo shirts. The couple, originally from St. George, Utah, now live in California. Mutual friends had introduced them at a Christmas party in 2002. They’ve been together ever since. “Now we can call each other ‘husbands’ and we can say we’re married and people understand that,” Jones said.

This day was triumphant for the gay community, despite the challenges they faced over the years. However, if the November referendum is approved, it could null and void the same-sex marriage licenses. Many same-sex couples are now getting married, but if the referendum goes through, French hopes it’ll be “years and years” before the Supreme Court can make the marriages invalid.

In 2004, Mayor Gavin Newsom contributed to same-sex marriage ceremonies in San Francisco, but the city soon stopped issuing licenses. The Supreme Court banned gay marriage licenses because Californians voted against the law that would make them legal.

Lok and French were active in the Gay Student Union and connected with the Gay Liberation. And on June 17th, the last 30 years of obstacles in Lok’s and French’s life were all worth it. “The way that the Supreme Court wrote the ruling, it sounds like they would say no,” said French. “ ‘[The Supreme Court will say] they got married, it was fine. You can’t take that away’—that’s our hope.”