3354
(2 votes, average 5.00 out of 5)
Jul 28, 2011
Patrick Plain, left, and Seong Man Hong seal lips after sealing the deal at the city clerk’s office in New York on July 24, the first day of same-sex marriage ceremonies.
Hundreds of gay couples dressed in formal suits and striped trousers, gowns and T-shirts recited vows in emotion-choked voices and triumphantly hoisted their long-awaited marriage certificates on July 24 as New York became the sixth and largest state to recognize same-sex weddings.
Couples began saying “I do” at midnight from Niagara Falls to Long Island, though New York City became the sometimes raucous center of action by daybreak as couples waited on a sweltering day for the chance to exchange vows at the city clerk’s office.
Thousands of protesters rallied in several cities around the state, a signal that the long fight for recognition may not be over just yet.
But a party atmosphere reigned in the lobby of the Manhattan clerk’s office, with cheers and applause breaking out whenever a couple was handed their white-and-blue wedding certificate. Balloons floated overhead. One couple wore matching kilts. Another wore sparkly crowns. Children scurried up and down the lobby. Workers with bullhorns called out the numbers of each couple.
Poignant signs of pent-up emotion were common from couples who had in some cases waited for years to wed. Couples cried and voices quavered. Newlywed Douglas Robinson ex-claimed, “You bet your life I do,” when asked if he would take Michael Elsasser as his spouse.
Stuart Gaffney of Marriage Equality USA said the Statue of Liberty seemed to stand taller July 24.
New York’s adoption of legal same-sex marriage is viewed as a pivotal moment in the national gay rights movement. It’s expected to galvanize supporters and opponents alike. The state joined Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, along with Washington, D.C., when it voted last month to legalize gay marriage.
Shortly after midnight, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D, issued a proclamation commemorating the “profoundly important day” as a “proud demonstration of our state’s commitment to ensuring complete equality for all of our citizens.”
Cuomo, who championed the marriage equality bill and on July 24 hosted a reception for lawmakers and LGBT civil rights advocates, said, “Passing this law not only completes the promise that we made to the people of the state during the campaign, it’s going to make a real difference in people’s lives.”
The opposition
Protest rallies took place in Manhattan, Buffalo, Rochester and Albany. Gay marriage opponents unhappy that Cuomo and lawmakers legalized same-sex marriage last month are calling for a statewide referendum on the issue.
“God is the author of marriage,” said Bishop Joseph Mattera, presiding bishop of the Christ Covenant Coalition in New York and Let the People Vote coalition member. “Marriage unites men and women and provides the best opportunity for children to be raised by their mother and father. Children need both a mom and a dad. For centuries, this is the way it has been. If New York is going to change the definition of marriage, it should be the people and not the politicians who make the decision.”
Several hundred people crowded into the street across from Cuomo’s Manhattan office to protest the new law. They waved signs saying “Excommunicate Cuomo” and chanted “Let the people vote!”
“I’m here for God’s sake,” said Steve Rosner, 65, of the Lower East Side. “To sanctify same-sex marriage is an abomination. It’s beyond belief.”
Hundreds more protested on the steps of Buffalo’s City Hall and at the state Capitol in Albany.
Additionally, at least two town clerks resigned, saying they could not marry same-sex couples for religious reasons.
The celebrations
But clerks in about a dozen other cities statewide opened their doors to cater to same-sex couples. Judges waived a mandatory 24-hour waiting period that allowed couples to exchange vows moments after receiving their licenses.
In New York City, the festive atmosphere included couples who posed for pictures in front of a photo backdrop of City Hall and bought T-shirts saying “I got married in New York City” from the clerk’s office gift shop. In Brooklyn, an elegant reception was held in Borough Hall with champagne and a lineup of cakes – one with a two-men cake topper, another with two women and a third with a heterosexual couple.
The first couple to marry in Manhattan were Phyllis Siegel, 77, and Connie Kopelov, 85, who have been together for 23 years. Kopelov arrived in a wheelchair and stood with the assistance of a walker. During the service, Siegel wrapped her hand in Kopelov’s hand and they both grasped the walker.
Witnesses cheered and wiped away tears after the two women vowed to honor and cherish each other as spouses and then kissed.
“I am breathless. I almost couldn’t breathe,” Siegel said after the ceremony. “It’s mind-boggling. The fact that’s it’s happening to us – that we are finally legal and can do this like everyone else.”
Outside afterward, Siegel raised her arms exultantly as Kopelov, in the wheelchair, held out a marriage certificate.
New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, who is openly lesbian, witnessed those first marriages in Manhattan. She told The New York Times, “To hear a judge say, ‘By the laws of our state,’ it sent a chill up my spine.”
In Manhasset on Long Island, Dina Mazzaferro and Robin Leopold of Great Neck got married in the North Hempstead town clerk’s office with their 8-year-old daughter, Sasha, and Robin’s mother, Barbara, watching. The elder woman wiped away tears during the brief ceremony while Sasha mouthed some of the words along with her parents.
The couple has been together 15 years.
“We’ve been waiting for this day,” Leopold, an attorney who works in the Queens district attorney’s office, said after the service. “And now we’re waiting for the day it becomes legal on a federal level. It’s a wonderful thing that the town has been so embracing of this.”
Across the state in Buffalo, the first in line were Daniel Rodgers, 54, and Scott Klaurens, 40, who were married in shorts, T-shirts and sneakers. They had gone expecting only to get a license and planned to wed July 26, but were told they could go ahead because of their marriage six years ago in Toronto.
“This is just a flower opening up for us and everyone else, a flower of equality,” Rodgers said.
At Buffalo City Hall, City Clerk Gerald Chwalinski zipped a black robe over his shorts and golf shirt and spent three hours marrying couples in the ornate city council chambers. His office issued 20 licenses and performed eight ceremonies.
In Syracuse, officials issued licenses to 25 same-sex couples and eight of them were granted waivers. Of the 15 same-sex couples granted licenses in Binghamton, one was from neighboring Pennsylvania and three were from New York City.
There were some glitches, though. In Brooklyn, Eufemio Torres and John Torres were told incorrectly by a city employee that they could not wed July 24 because Eufemio had only a Mexican passport.
“Our hearts sank. But I’m a fighter, and we were not going home,” said John Torres, a legal secretary.
Soon after speaking with the Brooklyn borough president’s chief of staff, the pair stood before a judge in the hall’s elaborate wood-carved main chamber. Eufemio Torres cradled a bouquet of white lilies and orchids, and the men took their wedding vows.
The day began with some couples exchanging vows right after midnight. In Niagara Falls, gay rights activists Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd were legally married the very first moment they could be during a midnight ceremony.
“We’ve turned Niagara Falls into rainbow colors. What a wonderful day in New York,” said Kevin Cathcart of Lambda Legal.
With the rainbow-lit falls as a backdrop, Lambert, 54, and Rudd, 53, were among the first gay couples to tie the knot with the blessing of the state. Lambert and Rudd, who have 12 grandchildren between them, have been together for more than a decade and had long been fighting for the right to marry.
The couple, both from Buffalo, smiled broadly as they exchanged traditional marriage vows, promising to love and cherish each other in sickness and in health. A crowd of several hundred people cheered as they were pronounced married and shared their first wedded kiss.
“What an incredible night this was,” said Lambert, who wore an electric blue satin gown with a sequined train for the ceremony and carried a bouquet of blue hydrangeas. “Everything was absolutely perfect.”
