New York couples to wed next weekend

by Anthony Glassman

New York City--Couples in a number of cities across the state of New York will find clerks? offices open on Sunday, July 24, as municipal governments try to issue marriage licenses on the day the state?s same-sex marriage law takes effect.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law on June 24 to go into effect 30 days later, so it will be in force on Sunday, July 24. City clerk offices are not usually open on Sundays, but many municipalities, including Binghamton, Syracuse and New York City, are eager to allow people to avail themselves of the law as soon as legally possible.

In New York City, for instance, some state judges have volunteered to be present to both waive the 24-hour waiting period between getting a license and being married, as well as to perform the weddings themselves.

Officials in Ithaca, Woodstock and some other towns have said that they will decide whether to open on Sunday based on public demand.

However, Islip and Brookhaven, the two Long Island municipalities that encompass most of the Fire Island gay vacation spot, will not open on Sunday. They will, however, have extra staff on hand on Monday to handle marriage license applications.

Couples do not need to be New York residents to marry there. Clerk?s offices in Mayville, Jamestown, Buffalo, Niagara Falls and other towns nearest to Ohio will be open on Monday, July 25. Ohio, however, will not presently recognize a same-sex marriage under current law and its 2004 ban amendment.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg will officiate at the marriage of his chief policy advisor, John Feinblatt, and his commissioner for consumer affairs, Jonathan Mintz. The couple, who have been together 14 years, will be married on July 24. They have two daughters.

However, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani seems to be avoiding his pledge to marry the gay couple who sheltered him during his messy 2001 divorce.

Howard Koeppel and Mark Hsiao let Giuliani use their Midtown apartment when he was trying to avoid Gracie Mansion, the mayor?s residence. Koeppel says that Giuliani told the men that were New York to ever legalize same-sex marriage, they would be ?one of the first ones I would marry,? he told the New York Post. Now, however, Giuliani won?t return his phone calls.

?It seems like a lot of people he was close to become persona non grata,? he noted.

Giuliani would be able to perform the wedding, since mayors of the city retain the power to perform weddings even after they leave office.

New York will become the sixth state with full same-sex marriage, plus the District of Columbia. The others are Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire. A seventh state, California, had full marriage for five months in 2008, before voters passed a ban amendment.

Also in North America, Canada has had full marriage since 2005, and same-sex marriages done in Mexico City are recognized throughout that country.

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