After long wait, same-sex couples marry in New York

From New York City to Niagara Falls, hundreds of gay and lesbian couples across New York began marrying Sunday — the first taking their vows just after midnight — in a new milestone for gay-rights advocates seeking to legalize same-sex marriage across the nation.

Outside the city clerk's office in Lower Manhattan, an orderly crowd had gathered in sweltering temperatures alongside metal police barriers hours before the doors opened around 8:45 a.m., prompting a cheer. At least one veil was in evidence.

Phyllis Siegel, 76, and Connie Kopelov, 84, who have been together in Manhattan for 23 years, were the first couple in, receiving a waiver from the rule requiring 24 hours between a license and a ceremony. They were ushered right into the chapel. Kopelov used a gray walker anchored by two tennis balls as they were married by the city clerk, Michael McSweeney.

As McSweeney declared to the couple, "I now pronounce you married," Siegel tenderly held Kopelov's head and kissed her on the left cheek. "I am breathless," Siegel said.

The first male couple, Marcos Chaljub, 29, and Freddy Zambrano, 30, both of Queens, wore matching white shirts, green ties and black and white boat shoes — even their beards matched. After the newly married couple kissed for a sustained 12 seconds, a friend tossed rice grains out of a Ziploc bag and a small audience in the chapel erupted into loud applause.

In New York City, 823 couples had signed up in advance to get marriage licenses Sunday. Marriage offices in each borough were open. In some places, small groups of protesters with signs were on hand, as well, denouncing the new law. But there were no reports of major disturbances.

By late morning, hundreds of people were still waiting in line outside the office in Manhattan. Those who emerged after being married were greeted with cheers from passers-by, a cadre of journalists seeking interviews and even the congratulations of police officers assigned to keep order.

Outside the five boroughs, more than a dozen other cities and towns from Buffalo to Brookhaven opened their offices to issue licenses, and over 100 judges across the state have volunteered to officiate.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who has championed same-sex marriage in the state since taking office in January, held a party in New York City and promised to help push for same-sex couples to be allowed to marry in other states.

Cuomo issued an official proclamation shortly after midnight that commemorated Sunday as a "profoundly important day" for gay men and lesbians across the state and a "proud demonstration of our state's commitment to ensuring complete equality for all of our citizens."

Not everyone was celebrating. Town clerks in at least two rural communities have resigned in recent days, saying their religious convictions precluded them from marrying gay couples, and thousands of opponents took to the streets as The National Organization for Marriage held rallies in New York City, Albany, Rochester and Buffalo. They contend Cuomo and lawmakers redefined marriage without giving voters a chance to weigh in, as they have in other states.

A rally in New York City that started with several hundred people crowding the street across from Cuomo's Manhattan office quickly swelled to thousands of people out in loud opposition to the new law.

They waved signs saying "Excommunicate Cuomo" and "God cannot be mocked."

Outside the capitol in Albany, about 400 people gathered in a park in the shadow of the state Capitol for a protest they said was political but had a strong religious thread and featured signs that included a banner with the familiar "Marriage = Man and Woman" message topped with a fluttering "Don't Tread on Me" flag.

A mix of congregants and clergy from local black churches, a tea-party contingent from Norwich and other small groups including families, lined up and sang "Our God is an Awesome God" as they started a march that circled the massive seat of state government in the largely empty downtown.

State Sen. Ruben Diaz, a minister who was the sole Democrat to vote against gay marriage, told the crowd that he and other opponents would try to get Sunday's marriages annulled, saying judges broke the law by waiving the 24-hour waiting period without a good reason.

New York is the sixth, and largest, state to legalize same-sex marriage. Several other states are considering following suit, and on Sunday, some gay-rights advocates said they planned to gather in Hoboken to call on New Jersey lawmakers to follow New York's lead and allow gay couples to wed. But most states have either laws or constitutional amendments barring same-sex marriage, and federal law bars the United States government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

Larry Kramer, the playwright and longtime gay-rights advocate, said that as long as the federal government would not recognize same-sex marriages, Sunday's celebration in New York would be misguided.

"These marriages, in whichever state, are what I call feel-good marriages," Kramer said. "Compared to the benefits heterosexual marriages convey, gay marriages are an embarrassment — that we should accept so little, and with so much hoopla of excitement and self-congratulation."

But many people, both opposed to and in support of same-sex marriage, saw legalization in New York as a significant development, in part because of the size and visibility of the state, and in part because of its symbolism — the modern gay-rights movement traces its symbolic emergence to the Stonewall uprising in New York City in 1969.

Additional material from

The Associated Press