We Do: A Celebration of Gay and Lesbian Marriage

Overview

We Do is a 2004 Chronicle Books photo-essay record of the same-sex couples who came to San Francisco City Hall after Mayor Gavin Newsom directed the city clerk to issue marriage licenses. Open Library records identify the book as a 144-page paperback about same-sex marriage, gay couples, weddings, and San Francisco. In the Tarpey-Schwed collection, its role is contextual rather than child-directed. It documents the civic and emotional visibility of marriage recognition at a moment when legal status remained unsettled. The item also connects adult documentary photography to children's books about weddings, parents, and family security. Its strongest public meaning comes from that crossing of city record, legal discontinuity, Bay Area publication, and family representation.^[3][4][5][1]

Photo Essay As Civic Record

The book is best understood as a documentary object. Open Library records identify a photo-oriented paperback about weddings, gay couples, same-sex marriage, and San Francisco; the collection description places it at City Hall during the 2004 license episode. The form matters because photography preserves the public setting of recognition: couples waiting, marrying, appearing before cameras, and entering a civic record. The item is not a legal brief, but it gives visible form to a legal and political moment.^[3][4][1]

Family Recognition

Although We Do is not children's literature, it belongs near the collection's family materials. Marriage rights shape household security, parent recognition, inheritance, medical decision-making, and the language through which children see their families named. The collection description specifically associates the book with family and child imagery within the photo record. That makes the object a bridge between adult civic action and child-facing books about weddings, parents, and same-sex family legitimacy.^{[1][4][10][12]}

Legal Discontinuity

The 2004 San Francisco marriages require precise framing. The event was highly visible and historically consequential, but the California Supreme Court later held that city officials had exceeded their authority and invalidated the licenses issued during that period. Reading the book with Lockyer keeps the record from turning celebration into a simplified victory narrative. The photographs document public recognition and civic participation at a moment when the law was still actively contested.^[5][6][7]

Bay Area Publication

Chronicle Books gives the item a local publishing frame. A San Francisco publisher issuing a San Francisco marriage-equality photo book in 2004 creates a close relationship between subject, city, and book trade. That proximity is useful for a Bay Area collection because it preserves more than national legal history. It records a local moment in which city government, publishing, photography, and public memory intersected before later state and federal marriage decisions changed the legal landscape. The geography remains part of the object's evidence.^[3][4][5][7]

Timeline

1. 2004-02-12San Francisco licenses beginSan Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, creating the civic event documented by the book.^[5]
2. 2004-03-11Licenses stoppedThe California Supreme Court ordered San Francisco officials to stop issuing the licenses while litigation proceeded.^[5]
3. 2004-05-27Publication recordOpen Library records May 27, 2004 as the publication date for We Do.^[3]
4. 2004-08-12Lockyer decisionThe California Supreme Court decided Lockyer and invalidated the licenses issued during the San Francisco episode.^[5]
5. 2005Canadian marriage lawCanada's Civil Marriage Act supplies a national-law comparison for related children's wedding books in the collection.^[13][12]
6. 2008-05-15In re Marriage CasesThe California Supreme Court later recognized marriage rights for same-sex couples under the state constitution.^[6]
7. 2008-11-04Proposition 8California voters approved Proposition 8, creating another major turn in the state's marriage-law timeline.^[7]
8. 2013Hollingsworth contextHollingsworth v. Perry became part of the federal legal path around Proposition 8.^[7]

Marriage And Family Recognition Shelf

The item links adult civic photography with child-facing books about weddings and family security.

Citation

We Do: A Celebration of Gay and Lesbian Marriage. Amy Rennert; Gavin Newsom. Chronicle Books, 2004. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-174.

Sources

Cover image from Open Library.

1. Local collection catalog record for We Do · catalog
2. Final pending packet 001 research dossier · internal
3. Open Library ISBN record for We Do · library
4. Open Library work record for We Do · library
5. California Supreme Court Historical Society record for Lockyer v. City and County of San Francisco · legal
6. ACLU Northern California record for In re Marriage Cases · legal
7. Cornell Legal Information Institute record for Hollingsworth v. Perry · legal
8. Cornell Legal Information Institute record for Obergefell v. Hodges · legal
9. PM Press record for Operation Marriage · publisher
10. Penguin Random House record for Donovan's Big Day · publisher
11. Kirkus review of Donovan's Big Day · review
12. Second Story Press record for Mom and Mum Are Getting Married · publisher
13. Civil Marriage Act, Canada · legal
14. Open Library work record for My Uncle's Wedding · library
15. Barnes & Noble record for My Uncle's Wedding · bookseller
16. Open Library edition record for Daddy's Wedding · library
17. Publishers Weekly review of Daddy's Wedding · review