While a handful of places permitted gay couples to get married last night, this morning is the real statewide kick-off of same-sex marriage in California. County clerk's offices are required to grant marriage licenses (Please let us know here on the blog if you find anyone balking) as they open for business this a.m. Yes, clerks in Kern and Butte Counties have said they won't perform marriages anymore, gay or straight; they say it's that they can't handle the numbers, but they're really gay marriage opponents who are part of a clever strategy of trying to stir a backlash by making it harder for straight couples to get married.

No problems yet, and I don't expect many. These newly married gay couples represent the best advertising against the November initiative. It will be important for gay marriage supporters -- who are on the "no" side of the initiative -- to keep the focus on these human questions and away from trickier legal issues. My New America colleague Mark Paul likes to say they should call it the "Forced Divorce" Initiative. If the initiative passes, these marriages are likely to face legal challenges.

One other prediction: there will be a distinctly older cast to the couples who line up this week to get married. These are couples who have waited for decades, and want to be near the front of the line in a history-making event. My gay friends and acquaintances my own age and younger (I'm 35) don't seem to be in any hurry, and they're early in their careers and find it hard to take time off work during the week to get to the courthouse.  They had long expected they'd be able to get married -- some have already had ceremonies that amount to marriages -- and are taking their time to get all the details right.