25 July,2011 07:27 AM IST | | Agencies
A city official married the first gay couple in New York City to wed under the state's new law allowing same-sex marriage yesterday.
Phyllis Siegel (77), and Connie Kopelov (85), were married in a chapel at the city clerk's office as a crowd of onlookers cheered.
Phyllis Siegel (rear) and Connie Kopelov celebrate and show off
their marriage certificate after being the first to wed
at Manhattan's City Clerk's Office yesterday
Hundreds of same-sex couples heard the news on Friday that they made the cut in the marriage lottery that New York state instituted for Sunday when the state's Marriage Equality Act took effect.
The New York City clerk's office has been flooded with more than 2,600 requests for marriage licences since the wording on the online application was changed from 'Groom and Bride' to 'Spouse A and Spouse B.'
The office could handle less than a third of those requests - gay or straight ufffd on Sunday, according to a press statement.
If all 764 weddings actually take place on Sunday, it will set a one-day record for the city.
End to Army gay ban
US President Barack Obama and the Pentagon's top two leaders yesterday signed the required certification attesting that the Defence Department is prepared for repeal of the military's ban on gays serving openly. "As of September 20, service members will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country,'' Obama said in a White House statement.
