FORMER actress and talk-show host Rosie O’Donnell walked down the steps of the San Francisco City Hall on Thursday and introduced her lesbian partner of six years, Kelli Carpenter, as “my brand-new wife” to a cheering group of supporters and well-wishers.
O’Donnell and partner were among more than 3,300 gay and lesbian couples to have tied the knot in the last two weeks since new San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s defiant decision against the state constitution to allow same-sex marriages. Whether such unions are legal is still uncertain.