Have a couple of White fundy conservative christian bible thumpers at work who are absolutely mortified by this! They was both convinced this is all part of a vast left-wing gay conspiracy to convert people into becoming gay! Let's hope they DON'T go postal like in Norway!...:Eek:
Couple ushers in new era
By Kevin J. Bargnes and Joseph Popiolkowski
News Staff Reporters July 24, 2011, 2:01 PM
NIAGARA FALLS — New York State ushered in same-sex marriage at 12:01 a.m. with the wedding of a Buffalo couple, punctuating the end of a long fight for gay-rights activists.
Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd were wed in Niagara Falls just after midnight.
"By the power vested in me by the laws of the State of New York, I now pronounce you legally married," said Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, who performed the ceremony, with the Bridal Veil Falls thundering behind him.
After exchanging rings and sending out wishes to 44 states that don't recognize same-sex marriage, the couple danced in the grass near the falls.
Hundreds began gathering on Goat Island earlier in the night, waiting for the two to become among the first gay couples to legally marry in New York State following this morning’s enactment of the Marriage Equality Act.
"We’re so proud of everybody who crawled up this hill with us," a teary-eyed Lambert, 54, said in an interview Saturday evening. "This wasn’t done with just the two of us. Every single person here played a part in getting this law passed.”
Rudd wore a white tuxedo and Lambert wore an aqua blue dress — and both brides made the outfits themselves, at their kitchen table, the same place they started OUTspoken for Equality, the Buffalo-based advocacy group that fights for gay rights.
That fight has been difficult on a personal level for Lambert and Rudd, who have been together for 12 years. Rudd has battled cervical and thyroid cancer, and Lambert has suffered three heart attacks. Each time one was in the hospital, the other struggled through red tape that failed to recognize their relationship.
"By law, because I had my last heart attack in Arizona, if I had died, they wouldn’t have notified her, they couldn’t have notified her," Lambert said. "And those are critical issues, those are critical things that people have to consider."
The couple began receiving guests Saturday evening for two ceremonies. The first was religious and began shortly before 11 p.m.
As a way of showing the different faiths that have actively supported same-sex marriage, clergy from three different faiths oversaw it: Baptist, Jewish and Episcopalian.
It featured a Celtic “hand fasting” ceremony and was capped by the couple dancing to Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory,” after Lambert declared to the crowd “I need Gaga!”
"At this exact moment in time, New Yorkers still stand without any protection,” Lambert told reporters as the sun came down Saturday on Goat Island. "But when that bell tolls with us at midnight tonight, and a new day dawns, literally a new day will dawn in New York. In not just the physical sense, but in that grand romantic sense that things are changing and life is good.”
At the religious ceremony, following a brief reading from Genesis, former Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, gave an impromptu address to a loud, cheering crowd. Hoyt was one of the main sponsors of the act, and pointed to Lambert’s “passion and enthusiasm and dedication” as one of the driving forces behind his actions.
“About seven years ago, I met this incredible dynamo named Kitty Lambert. And she, in a lot of ways, changed my life,” said Hoyt, who resigned from the Assembly three weeks ago to take a position in Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration. “She and Cheryle and a few hours got me focused on the importance of marriage equality, on equal rights for all people.”
As a wedding present to the couple, Dyster personally paid for the falls to be lit the colors of the rainbow past midnight, and presented them with a framed photograph of the falls lit up with those colors.
The event was open to the public and the media. No protesters were seen, something one park ranger said was unexpected but welcome.
Lambert said she and her wife will continue to fight for their rights on a federal level, and encouraged gays, lesbians and LGBT allies in other states to continue forward with her.
“Organize. Speak out. Don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Don’t go away. Don’t be disheartened. Don’t buy into the nonsense. Organize, organize, organize,” she said. “The arc of history bends in the direction of equality, it always has, and this will change.”
Couple ushers in new era
By Kevin J. Bargnes and Joseph Popiolkowski
News Staff Reporters July 24, 2011, 2:01 PM
NIAGARA FALLS — New York State ushered in same-sex marriage at 12:01 a.m. with the wedding of a Buffalo couple, punctuating the end of a long fight for gay-rights activists.
Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd were wed in Niagara Falls just after midnight.
"By the power vested in me by the laws of the State of New York, I now pronounce you legally married," said Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, who performed the ceremony, with the Bridal Veil Falls thundering behind him.
After exchanging rings and sending out wishes to 44 states that don't recognize same-sex marriage, the couple danced in the grass near the falls.
Hundreds began gathering on Goat Island earlier in the night, waiting for the two to become among the first gay couples to legally marry in New York State following this morning’s enactment of the Marriage Equality Act.
"We’re so proud of everybody who crawled up this hill with us," a teary-eyed Lambert, 54, said in an interview Saturday evening. "This wasn’t done with just the two of us. Every single person here played a part in getting this law passed.”
Rudd wore a white tuxedo and Lambert wore an aqua blue dress — and both brides made the outfits themselves, at their kitchen table, the same place they started OUTspoken for Equality, the Buffalo-based advocacy group that fights for gay rights.
That fight has been difficult on a personal level for Lambert and Rudd, who have been together for 12 years. Rudd has battled cervical and thyroid cancer, and Lambert has suffered three heart attacks. Each time one was in the hospital, the other struggled through red tape that failed to recognize their relationship.
"By law, because I had my last heart attack in Arizona, if I had died, they wouldn’t have notified her, they couldn’t have notified her," Lambert said. "And those are critical issues, those are critical things that people have to consider."
The couple began receiving guests Saturday evening for two ceremonies. The first was religious and began shortly before 11 p.m.
As a way of showing the different faiths that have actively supported same-sex marriage, clergy from three different faiths oversaw it: Baptist, Jewish and Episcopalian.
It featured a Celtic “hand fasting” ceremony and was capped by the couple dancing to Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory,” after Lambert declared to the crowd “I need Gaga!”
"At this exact moment in time, New Yorkers still stand without any protection,” Lambert told reporters as the sun came down Saturday on Goat Island. "But when that bell tolls with us at midnight tonight, and a new day dawns, literally a new day will dawn in New York. In not just the physical sense, but in that grand romantic sense that things are changing and life is good.”
At the religious ceremony, following a brief reading from Genesis, former Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, gave an impromptu address to a loud, cheering crowd. Hoyt was one of the main sponsors of the act, and pointed to Lambert’s “passion and enthusiasm and dedication” as one of the driving forces behind his actions.
“About seven years ago, I met this incredible dynamo named Kitty Lambert. And she, in a lot of ways, changed my life,” said Hoyt, who resigned from the Assembly three weeks ago to take a position in Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration. “She and Cheryle and a few hours got me focused on the importance of marriage equality, on equal rights for all people.”
As a wedding present to the couple, Dyster personally paid for the falls to be lit the colors of the rainbow past midnight, and presented them with a framed photograph of the falls lit up with those colors.
The event was open to the public and the media. No protesters were seen, something one park ranger said was unexpected but welcome.
Lambert said she and her wife will continue to fight for their rights on a federal level, and encouraged gays, lesbians and LGBT allies in other states to continue forward with her.
“Organize. Speak out. Don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Don’t go away. Don’t be disheartened. Don’t buy into the nonsense. Organize, organize, organize,” she said. “The arc of history bends in the direction of equality, it always has, and this will change.”
