Phyllis Siegal, 76, and Connie Kopelov, 84, were married in a chapel at the city clerk's office as a crowd of onlookers cheered.
The two, of New York, have been together for 23 years. Kopelov left the clerk's office in a wheelchair, but used a walker to approach reporters.
Hundreds of same-sex couples heard the news Friday that they made the cut in the marriage lottery that New York state instituted for Sunday, the day that the state's Marriage Equality Act took effect.
"These are two independent people who are joining together because they can see and they can feel how much better their lives will be," city clerk Michael McSweeney said as he married Siegal and Kopelov. "We are grateful that they are allowing us to share this truly momentous ceremony with them."
The New York City clerk's office has been flooded with more than 2,600 requests for marriage licenses 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 -- on Sunday, according to a press statement the city released earlier in the week. The lottery was set up to allocate 764 slots for couples who want to obtain marriage licenses and/or be married at city clerk's offices on Sunday.
Couples began lining up outside the clerk's office before the ceremonies began Sunday. Some women wore wedding gowns, while some men wore suits or tuxedos.
If all 764 weddings actually take place on Sunday, it will set a one-day record for the city.
"Marriage equality is alive and well in every borough of New York City right now," said Christine Quinn, speaker of the New York City Council, who is also gay. She said watching the weddings "sent a chill up my spine."
Marcos Chaljub and Freddy Zambrano were married after Siegal and Kopelov. The two tearfully said their vows as friends hovered and snapped pictures.
"You're married!" one declared as celebratory hugs were exchanged afterward.
Chaljub and Zambrano conducted last-minute preparations Saturday for their wedding, picking up bouquets of wildflowers for their bridesmaids and champagne for a family brunch afterward. The couple has been together for five years.
"I have certain people in my life, they're not totally OK with it, but they accept it, and just the fact they respect us because of that, it's really the most that I can ask for," Chaljub told.
The two have been wearing rings for five years, and said they don't plan to exchange new ones. "We're just going to polish them up and exchange them again," Chaljub said.
New York Rabbi Shaaron Feinbaum of Beit Simchat Torah congregation, who has lobbied for legalizing same-sex marriage, set up a station for couples desiring a religious ceremony after the civil one.
New York legalized same-sex marriage in June. The Marriage Equality Act was a priority for Gov. Andrew Cuomo after winning election in November. The law was passed under a Republican-led Senate after days of delays and negotiations between the two parties.
Quinn announced that a drawing will take place Monday to award a honeymoon package to one newly-married couple in each borough. The package will include two nights in a Manhattan hotel; dinners; tickets to a museum, the Empire State Buidling, a Broadway show and Cirque du Soleil; and Macy's gift certificates.
Quinn told that New York is the place where the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) movement was born, and a place the world looks to.
"All eyes are upon it, and I believe it is going to help propel this movement forward faster than any of the other states have," Quinn said.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire also allow same-sex marriage, as does the District of Columbia.
Centenares de parejas gays esperan frente al Registro Civil de Manhattan, dar el "Sí" en el histórico día en que el Estado de Nueva York da vía libre a la unión de parejas del mismo sexo.
Otras parejas ya han dado el "sí quiero" en este primer día de bodas legales entre homosexuales en Nueva York, como es el caso de la reverenda de origen puertorriqueño Carmen Hernández y su ya esposa, Doris De Armas, que contrajeron matrimonio en el registro civil de El Bronx, uno de los cinco condados de Nueva York.
Hernández, una de las activistas hispanas más conocidas por su defensa de los derechos de la comunidad gay y lesbiana de la ciudad, y De Armas fueron casadas por la jueza Yetta Kurland, otra conocida líder de la ciudad en la defensa de los derechos sociales.
"Fue un honor casar a Carmen Hernández y Doris De Armas frente a toda la comunidad de El Bronx", dijo Kurland en un comunicado de prensa.
Entre quienes esperaban a las puertas del registro civil de Manhattan para casarse estaban la pareja de puertorriqueñas Sheila y Evelyn, que llegaron a las 06.00 hora local para estar entre las primeras en cumplir el sueño de casarse, dijeron a la cadena de televisión local NY1.
"Llevamos dos años juntas y estamos bien felices", dijo Sheila, quien señaló que habían llegado desde Puerto Rico para casarse en la ciudad de los rascacielos y mañana mismo volver a la isla para celebrar su boda con familiares y amigos.
Nueva York es la ciudad del estado que más solicitudes recibió de los ciudadanos para celebrar matrimonios este domingo, hasta un total de 2.661 peticiones, lo que llevó a las autoridades a convocar un sorteo público para elegir las parejas que este día cumplirían su sueño y que al final han sido 823.
Se desconoce cuántas son del mismo sexo ya que no se requirió esa información.
Nueva York se convirtió el 24 de junio pasado en el sexto estado de EE.UU. en permitir los matrimonios entre personas del mismo sexo, después de una larga batalla parlamentaria y de un tenso debate entre republicanos y demócratas en el Senado estatal en donde al final la propuesta del gobernador Andrew Cuomo reunió 33 votos a favor y 29 en contra.
Las primeras en casarse en el estado fueron Kitty Lambert, de 54 años, y Cheryle Rudd, de 53, que celebraron su boda en la localidad de Niagara Falls (norte), con las famosas cataratas de telón de fondo, y una lluvia de fuegos artificiales.
"Ha sido una noche increíble", dijo Lambert, en declaraciones a diversos medios locales tras la ceremonia celebrada en la media noche del sábado y con un escenario de luces con los colores del arco iris, y que, junto a su esposa, celebró el "ser igual que cualquier otra pareja".
El matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo tiene una consideración dispar en Estados Unidos, pues mientras en estados como Massachusetts, Nueva Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut y Iowa, además de Washington DC, y ahora Nueva York, están permitidos, California lo prohibió después de someterlo a referéndum en 2008.
Las uniones de hecho eran ya legales en la ciudad de Nueva York y San Francisco, al igual que lo son en otras poblaciones de los estados de California, Colorado, Hawai, Maine, Maryland, Nueva Jersey, Ohio, Oregón, Wisconsin y Washington.
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