By Matthew S. Bajko
Bay Area Reporter

Mayor Gavin Newsom began his second term in office Tuesday, January 8 with a stinging rebuke for those who complain about "San Francisco values" during his inaugural speech. Standing on the staircase underneath City Hall's Rotunda, Newsom recalled how nearly four years ago same-sex couples exchanged marriage vows on those very steps. With his ordering city officials to wed gay and lesbian couples, Newsom said, We saw how San Francisco can be a beacon for the world when we led the fight for marriage equality." And when the city extended protections to transgender residents "it became better," said Newsom. To those who continue to attack him and the city for standing up for LGBT rights, the mayor had a response.  "They deride what they call 'San Francisco values.' But we know that those values inspire many more than they frighten," said Newsom, later adding, "when others were fearful, San Franciscans did not falter. ... We will not stop making this city an inspiration and an example for others." Read more »

By Cecilia Vega, Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writers
San Francisco Chronicle

Mayor Gavin Newsom was sworn in for a second term Tuesday, promising to make San Francisco a greener city and a national leader in health care reform while praising "San Francisco values" like support for same-sex marriage and protections for undocumented immigrants. Newsom's father, retired Judge William Newsom, administered the oath of office using a family Bible under City Hall's palatial dome in a ceremony that organizers billed as low-key. The mayor was sworn in alongside his sister Hillary Newsom Callan, her two young daughters and his new fiancee, Jennifer Siebel, to whom Newsom referred in his inaugural speech as "the love of my life."

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Bay Area Reporter

February 12, 2004 changed our world. Mayor Gavin Newsom had just returned from Washington where he was a guest of then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at the president's State of the Union address. He, and the rest of us, witnessed the president voice his support for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Returning to San Francisco, Newsom, in an act of amazing boldness and incredible political courage, ordered then-city Assessor Mabel Teng to issue marriage licenses to any couple who wished to marry, regardless of sex or gender identity, an order that Teng was happy to follow. For the next month, nearly 4,000 couples from all over the country flocked to San Francisco to marry in what would be called the "Winter of Love." The national and world press at first reported it as just another example of left coast San Francisco being out of touch with the real world. But as married couples returned home and resumed their lives, the sky didn't fall, and the national dialogue changed. Read more »