New York state celebrates first same-sex marriages

Couples wed on 1st day gay marriage is legal in N.Y

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NEW YORK — Pronounced married by a judge, Jameese Cox and Shaun Burse hugged tightly, kissed and exchanged a high five, one of the first same-sex couples to get married, beaming and teary-eyed, in New York state

"Awesome,'' said Burse, who wore a white summer dress and a flower in her hair.

"It is awesome,'' said Cox, who wore jeans and a turquoise polo shirt. "It is so awesome.''

Cox and Burse, both 31, flew from Cleveland, Tenn., to get married on the first day same-sex marriage became legal in the state. They joined a long line of more than 800 couples who were to be married Sunday in the city, which made special arrangements to accommodate the large number of couples who wanted to wed on the first day possible

New York became the sixth and largest state to recognize same-sex marriage in June. For many of the couples getting married the ceremonies represented "the culmination of decades of love and struggle and support," as Douglas Robinson, 60, said after he married Michael Elsasser, 56, in the presence of their two adopted sons.

Sari Kessler, a psychologist and jazz singer, and Erika Karp, an investment banker, were among the first to get a marriage license, having arrived at the city clerk's office at 4:30 a.m.. They were to be married outside the clerk's office by their rabbi, who married them in their Manhattan synagogue 12 years ago.

"Every day, people need to know we're just like everybody else,'' Kessler said.

"Our families are just as valued and important and special as any other family in the world,'' Karp added.

The couple's three daughters, ages 9, 6 and 3, were to join them for the ceremony. "Their main interests are being flower girls and the wedding cake,'' Kessler said.

Alan Miles was in Boston, Mass, on the day seven years ago that the state began allowing gay couples to marry. "It was very powerful to me. I realized this was really something I wanted for myself.'' He promptly proposed to his longtime love, Drew Glick, but learned he would have to wait. Glick wanted to be married in N ew York, his hometown, and nowhere else.

In June, the law in New York changed. "We just looked at each other and said, let's do it.'' Glick immediately updated his Facebook status to "engaged.''

On Sunday the two were married by Judge George Silver, whom they had met by chance at their barbershop Thursday when they were getting pre-wedding haircuts. Silver was among 60 judges who volunteered Sunday to grant judicial waivers of the required 24-hour waiting period and to perform ceremonies.

Same-sex weddings began shortly after midnight across the state, but the busiest marriage bureau was in New York City, where officials held a lottery and gave the go-ahead to 823 couples, the most they could accommodate in one day. When the Manhattan office of the city clerk opened at 8:30 a.m., the line of couples, with family, friends and children, stretched around the block. Some couples wore matching outfits, some wore T shirts and shorts. The first couple to marry, Phyllis Siegel and Connie Kopelov, were 76 and 84 years old respectively and had been together for 23 years. Antonio Lopez, 25, and Alvin Woods, 27, have known each other six months. They waited in line with bandages covering their freshly-tattooed-on wedding rings, to be revealed at the ceremony.

"When we met, we knew it was meant to be,'' said Lopez, an actor.

Across the street from the clerk's office, a small group of protesters yelled slogans and sang songs, though their view of the line was blocked by a large city truck parked in front of the protest area. A "Rainbow Protection Line'' of volunteers with bright umbrellas shielded couples waiting in line from seeing the protest group.

Several couples waiting to be married said they believed the New York law could help lead to federal recognition of same-sex marriage through repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

"DOMA needs to be overturned,'' said Michael Jones, 45, a lawyer waiting to marry his partner of 16 years, Jonathan Parris, a financial assistant at the National Academy of Design. "Marriage is and has always been a state issue.''

Parris and Jones met in Atlanta 16 years ago when Michael ran a personal ad, in the pre-Internet dating world.

"He said he was a lover of ideas old and new and looking for a pair of arms to hold him in the close of the day,'' Parris said.

"I can't believe he remembers that,'' Jones said.