Rosie O’Donnell to Get Hitched in SF

Rosie O’Donnell is heading to San Francisco today to marry girlfriend Kelli Carpenter as a reaction against President Bush’s endorsement of a constitutional amendment barring gay marriage:

“We, too, have a dream of equality for all families,” the comedian said in a statement. “The only way changes are made in society is when people like Mayor Gavin Newsom have the courage to stand up against injustice.”

….She said the president’s call is what inspired her to come to San Francisco, where city officials continue to perform same-sex weddings even as state courts are considering the legality of those marriages.

“I think the actions of the president are, in my opinion, the most vile and hateful words ever spoken by a sitting president,” O’Donnell said on the program. “I am stunned and I’m horrified.

“I find this proposed amendment very, very, very, very shocking. And immoral. And, you know, if civil disobedience is the way to go about change, then I think a lot of people will be going to San Francisco. And I hope they put more people on the steps to marry as many people as show up. And I hope everyone shows up.” [AP]

She brings up a very specific issue I had forgotten about regarding equal rights and marriage:

O’Donnell said she decided to marry Carpenter, a former dancer and marketing director at Nickelodeon, during her recent trial in New York over the now-defunct Rosie magazine.

“We applied for spousal privilege and were denied it by the state. As a result, everything that I said to Kelli, every letter that I wrote her, every e-mail, every correspondence and conversation was entered into the record,” O’Donnell said. “After the trial, I am now and will forever be a total proponent of gay marriage.”

That is absolutely stark discrimination with very tangible ramifications. I have never been much of a Rosie fan, but I’m more of one now.