SEATTLE: 140 Gay Couples To Marry At City Hall On December 9th

Dan Savage is thrilled:

More than 140 couples have registered to marry at City Hall on December 9, the first day that all couples will be free to legally marry in Washington state. All the available slots did book up quickly. Mayor McGinn and his team and the judges who are donating their time—all of whom have been wonderful—extended the hours, making more wedding slots available. All of those additional slots quickly filled up. You know me, Slog. I'm not prone to gushing. But I gotta say: All the folks at the city and all of the judges have been wonderful and accommodating and open. I can't thank them enough. But I want to extend a special thanks to Mayor McGinn. The mayor embraced the idea when I proposed it to him—he didn't even mind that I'd scammed his personal cell number from a friend-of-a-friend-of-the-mayor and called him on a Sunday night—and the mayor quickly got everyone at City Hall working together to pull this celebration together. So on behalf of all of the couples planning to marry at City Hall on this Sunday: Thank you, Mike.

There's also a fundraising pitch for decorations and to make everything "completely free" for the participating couples.