The marriage-equality movement enjoyed a burst of new energy July 24, as jubilant same-sex couples across New York state began marrying under a new law that took effect at midnight.
"Today we celebrate our families, our equality, and how far we have come as a community," said Kevin Cathcart, executive director of Lambda Legal, a national advocacy organization, in a statement.
New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, who is openly gay, told NBC Nightly News, "Today those families were told they matter and that the state of New York cares about them as much as anyone else."
From Niagara Falls to Albany to New York City hundreds of gay and lesbians applied for marriage licenses.
The first couple to marry under the new law was Kitty Lambert, 54, and Cheryle Rudd, 53, of Buffalo, who exchange vows in a religious ceremony at Niagara Fallsshortly after midnight.
In New York City alone, 823 couples were granted marriage licenses with many of those couples expected to marry right away. City clerks' offices opened in all five boroughs as judges were on hand to officiate and to waiver the state's mandatory 24-hour waiting period between licensure and wedding ceremony. By day's end, city officials said 659 couples had picked up their licenses.
The first couple to marry legally in the city was Phyllis Siegel, 76, and Connie Kopelov, 84. The Chelsea couple has been together for 23 years.
Even the mayor got into the act Sunday night. On the lawn of Gracie Mansion, his official residence, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg officiated the wedding of his chief policy adviser, John Feinblatt, 60, and Jonathan Mintz, 47, the city's commissioner for consumer affairs.
Notwithstanding the initial rush of same-sex marriages, other couples are waiting for the just the right time. One couple is Philip Trzynka, 52, and Brett Henry, 52, of New York City.
Trzynka hails from Fort Wayne, Ind., and is an ordained minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He currently serves as pastor of Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran.
Henry grew up outside of Chicago in the suburb of Glen Ellyn and works in sales for Federal Express.
The couple met in September 2000 at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in New York City. In 2006, they celebrated two religious commitment ceremonies, one in Glen Ellyn, the other in their Manhattan home parish on Oct. 7, 2006.
At the time, "We decided it was important to us that our family and friends were able to publicly hear about our commitment to each other and were able to show their support for our relationship," Rev. Trzynka said.
"We wanted to try to accommodate all of our friends and family who wanted to show their support. I think, like most couples, we wanted our families and our church to give us a sign of support and acceptance of who we are and the family we were creating," he added.
In 2008, the couple adopted a then-8-year-old son.
"Our reason for wanting a civil ceremony in New York is the same as it was when we had our religious ceremonies. We want to give our family the opportunity to receive a sign of support and acceptance from the state in which we live and have grown to love," Trzynka explained.
"Of course, we also desire the protections and safeguards that legal recognition of the state can give our family," he said, adding, now with New York's support, "We feel home."
The couple has tentative plans to celebrate civil marriage this coming Oct. 7five years to the date of their religious commitment ceremony.
New York is the third state to legalize gay marriage by legislative action. The other two are New Hampshire and Vermont.
On June 15, New York's Democratic-held Assembly voted 8063 in favor of the gay marriage bill. On June 24, the Republican-led Senate passed it by a vote of 3329. Immediately, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who championed the bill, signed the measure into law, which required a 30-day waiting period before taking effect.
The legislative victory gave new life to same-sex marriage advocates after attempts to enact gay marriage fizzled in Maryland and Rhode Island.
The win in New York is indeed a big prize. The state, the nation's third most populous, joins five other statesConnecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermontand the District of Columbia in allowing gays to wed.
Altogether, New York's population of 19 million is greater than the combined total of those five plus the nation's capital. With New York now among the marriage-equality fold, the number of Americans living same-sex marriage states more than doublesfrom 16 million to 35 million people.
New York's Marriage Equality Act is unique insofar as it has the most extensive religious exemptions of any gay-marriage law so far enacted. For example, the law makes explicit that no member of the clergy is required to marry a same-sex couple.
In addition, the Marriage Equality Act and other New York law exempt religious organizations and "benevolent orders," like the Knights of Columbus, from non-discrimination requirements of public accommodations, for instance, commercial banquet halls.
As lawmakers in Albany, the state capital, debated marriage equality, media gave extensive coverage to church opposition to it and to detractors' insistence on exemptions to protect religious liberties.
Trzynka voiced frustration over the media. "Much of the news coverage made it feel as though religious people were against [ same-sex ] marriageperiod!" he said, adding, the media gave the impression, moreover, that "'the church'" wanted religious exemptions "so that it did not have to support gay marriage in any way."
Trzynka knew differently, he said, referring to his own denomination and pastors' support of marriage equality, as well as that of Episcopal priests, United Church of Christ pastors and Presbyterian clergy.
Partly out of frustration, he said, "I decided to put out a sign in front of our church, saying that here at Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish, the pastormewould perform free LGBT marriages for the coming year."
Apparently, "It got a lot of buzz," Trzynka said. "I hope it caused people to hear again that many religious people believe God loves to bless such marriages."