Relieved that they acted quickly

Mary Moran, left, and Melissa Bullock are married by Vicki Frazier. (Submitted photo)

Gay couple beat clock to marry in Del Norte

Mary Moran and Melissa Bullock of Tacoma, Wash., didn’t plan on getting married in Crescent City — or at all.

Then the California Supreme Court ruled last May that same-sex marriage was legal in the Golden State.

Along with at least 50 other same-sex couples, the two tied the knot in Del Norte County during the nearly six-month period that same-sex marriage was legal in California.

“We hadn’t planned on it beforehand,” Moran said Thursday in a telephone interview. “Until that point the only other place was Massachusetts, which was too far a trip.”

The couple, together since 2002, had already had their own personal ceremony, but upon hearing that their union could be recognized legally,  they decided to make the trip.

“We really did it for the symbolic aspect,” Moran said. “As far as the practical side of marriage, it doesn’t apply because Washington doesn’t acknowledge” same-sex marriages.

Moran and Bullock consider themselves lucky to have acted quickly, since California voters passed Proposition 8 banning gay marriage last November.

“One of the secondary reasons that we wanted to get married was definitely political,”  Moran said. “We wanted to be counted, wanted to be one more same-sex couple married in California.”

“So when Proposition 8 was passed we were really disappointed and worried, not personally, but for all the people that didn’t get the chance that we did.”

The possibility did cross the couple’s mind that Proposition 8’s passage could invalidate their marriage, but as Moran put it, “we don’t live in California, it’s the symbol that counts.”

The Supreme Court ruled recently  that California voters had the right to do what they did last November: ban same-sex marriage. The court also ruled, however, that same-sex marriages already performed would remain valid.

Despite the passage of Prop. 8 and the court’s subsequent mixed ruling, Moran said she was optimistic that gay marriage rights will continue to expand.

“The thing that is exciting is that it’s a discussion that’s still going on,” she said. “In the last 20 years since I came out things have been changing for the better. I’m optimistic it’s going to happen.”

For the Tacoma couple, “marriage definitely had an effect,” Bullock said Thursday. “Most of the time things aren’t any different, our commitment never changed, but sometimes it catches me by surprise; reinforces that our job is to make it last.”

For the brief time that same-sex marriage was legal in California, some counties still refused to perform the unions.

“Everything just fell into place,” Moran said, referring to the fact that Del Norte County was the closest California county and also performed the unions. “We called Vicki Frazier at the county clerk’s office and she said that she had an opening for 2 p.m. Aug. 8, we took it.”

 The couple drove down with their 9-year-old son, Isaac Bullock.

“Vicki was really amazing,” Moran said. “She definitely helped make the wedding a special experience.”

 Frazier suggested they hold the ceremony at Enderts Beach lookout, Moran said.

“We wouldn’t have known where to have it, we planned on just having it at the clerk’s office,” Moran said. “Vicki suggested that we go somewhere nicer, outside. She said she wouldn’t have a problem leaving the office for the ceremony.”

Bullock agrees that Frazier made their ceremony more memorable than it might have been.

“One of the things that I will always remember is the lookout,” Bullock said. “I expected that it would be a quick thing in an office, but the place was so beautiful, as if it was made for getting married. I will always remember it.”

“She (Frazier) was very matter of fact, she encouraged me to make this a memorable experience.”

The couple spent their one day honeymoon in the redwoods with Isaac. They even found a spot where the trees resembled an altar — “we cracked up at that,” Moran said.

“Everybody in town was very nice and helpful,” Moran said. “We were both surprised at the depth of emotion we felt, I think we both cried a little during the ceremony.”