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Gay Marriage Pushed to the Forefront By Activist Mayor

By Janice G. Inman
March 29, 2004

Editor's Note: For daily state-by-state information on the fast-changing issue of same-sex marriage, please visit our Web site at http://www.ljnonline.com/ and click on the interactive map.

After a prolonged silence on the increasingly charged national issue of same-sex marriage, New Yorkers finally entered the fray in February. It all began, of course, when New Paltz mayor Jason West, a 26-year-old who ran for mayor last year on the Green Party ticket, became the first elected official in New York State to preside over the marriage of a gay couple. None of the couples were issued marriage licenses, a prerequisite to marriage under state law. On that first day, February 27, West married 25 couples in the Village Hall parking lot.

Since then, hundreds more couples have put their names on a waiting list to be married in New Paltz. The town's Web site had to request that all those interested in being married register on-line rather than call or visit the Village Hall, due to the “overwhelming response” of couples wishing to marry there.

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