The US city of San Francisco has become the first civil authority in the United States to officially marry gay couples in open defiance of laws banning the practice. The city, under the orders of new liberal Mayor Gavin Newsom, officially married at least 15 gay couples and issued marriage licences to around a dozen others. The landmark move in California came as lawmakers in Massachusetts struggled to thwart a court ruling legalising same-sex marriages in the eastern US state. A pair of elderly lesbians became the first couple to have their same-sex union officially blessed in San Francisco, challenging...
