First same-sex NY couples marry

Just after 12:00am this morning, the first same-sex couples were married in New York.  Gay rights activists Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd were tied the knot at a rainbow-lit Niagara Falls just after the stroke of midnight, while across New York, marriage license offices will be open today to couples can get the necessary paperwork, while dozens of judges have volunteered to officiate so that people do not have to wait until tomorrow to get married.  Mayor Michael Bloomberg will officiate at the wedding of two colleagues at Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence.

New York City has planned several weeks of festivities including a giant wedding event next Sunday in Central Park.