After Long Wait, Same-Sex Couples Marry in New York

Against a cascade of rainbow-colored falls, and with cicadas humming in the background, Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd married at the first possible moment in Niagara Falls. After a bell tolled 12 times to ring in the new day, Ms. Lambert, 54, and Ms. Rudd, 53, held hands and kissed in front of more than 100 friends and family members.

Click to expand...

After 12 tolls of a bell to ring in the new day, the mayor of Niagara Falls, Paul A. Dyster, said, “By the power vested in me by the laws of the state of New York, I now pronounce you legally married.” And Ms. Lambert, 54, and Ms. Rudd, 53, kissed in front of more than 100 friends and family members.

It was 12 years to the day after their first date.

Many of the onlookers cheered and cried at the sight of the newlyweds, who had become a local symbol of the civil rights struggle that culminated in the state’s approval of same-sex marriage last month.

Click to expand...