New Yorkers queue in the sun to be first to celebrate gay weddings

Published on Sunday 24 July 2011 16:19

FOR Phyllis Siegel, 76, and her partner Connie Kopelov, 84. it was a day they had waited 23 years for.

At 9:14am yesterday the couple emerged outside Manhattan's city clerk's office clutching a marriage certificate - the first of 823 gay couples due to do the same on a busy day for New York officials.

To the cheers of supporters and in front of a waiting press, Ms Seigel hugged her ailing partner. "It feels wonderful," she said.

"It is the first day of the rest of our lives," the newlywed added, although she merely shrugged when asked over any honeymoon plans.

Couples had queued since 4:30am to be among the first to be processed.

It comes a month after New York senators voted 33 to 29 in favour of same-sex unions, making the state that largest in the United States to allow gay marriages. Such was the demand for marriage certificates on the opening day, officials had to hold a lottery to decide who would be in the first tranche.

Couples selected were only told on Friday, giving them just two days to prepare for the big day.

Adam McKew, 30, and partner Dave Lewis, 38, were among those queuing up in lower Manhattan to tie the knot.

Despite sweltering conditions - New York is in the middle of a heat wave that has seen temperatures soar to 40C over the weekend - they were decked out in full traditional Scottish costume, in a nod to their roots.

"We always wanted to wear kilts at our wedding, it is in our heritage," Mr McKew explained.

Other outfits for the day ranged from formal wedding attire to more comfortable clothing to cope with the heat.

It is not only New York's gay community that has welcomed the move to allow same-sex unions. The city's wedding industry has been rubbing its hands with glee in anticipation of a windfall.

And while a queue that stretched around the block began to snake its way down to the clerk's office, licenced marriage officials distributed business cards for newlyweds to hand on to friends.

An enterprising two-piece act set up their keyboards nearby, offering CDs free of charge to same-sex couples who could produce a marriage certificate, while promoting their availability to those that couldn't.

But not everyone was pleased to see the advent of same-sex unions in the city. A small group of Christian fundamentalists formed a small protest within earshot of the happy couples."God hates fags, God hates New York," shouted members of the Westboro Baptist Church, who had travelled from Kansas to mark their disapproval.

At the front of the queue of soon-to-be newlyweds, Erika Karp said the presence of church members did not distract from a "historic" day.

"I just wish they would move on to something else to put their energies into, hopefully something not so ignorant," she said.