NY same-sex couples can finally celebrate

After waiting for years, David Kilmnick plans to marry his longtime partner now that same-sex marriage is legal in New York.

For the past 10 years, Kilmnick -- a leader in the local gay community -- has been a prime Long Island proponent of the historic legislation passed Friday night that made New York the sixth state in the nation to approve same-sex marriage.

Like many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people on Long Island, Kilmnick was overjoyed by the prospect of being treated the same as other couples in society.

"My mother called last night and said, 'Now I can dance at your wedding!' " laughed Kilmnick, chief executive of Long Island GLBT Services Network in Bay Shore, which in 2002 set up a coalition in favor of marriage equality for same-sex couples.

Throughout New York State Saturday, proponents expressed their joy at a hard-fought political victory for "marriage equality" -- the term seen on many red-and-white advocacy signs posted throughout Long Island streets in recent weeks. Parties and get-togethers were held Friday night as the bill was passed, say advocates, and many Long Islanders are expected to attend Sunday's annual Manhattan gay pride parade, which Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will attend.

"It's a huge step forward for thousands of couples who have been waiting to share in the joys of marriage and enjoy the same rights and protections of marriage," said Sean Eldridge, political director of Freedom to Marry, a national organization that hopes the New York law will serve as a template for other states.

Despite strong opposition among many religious groups, some church leaders lined up in support.

Passage of the law "helped us all move yet closer to living the reality that there are no outcasts in the church," said Bishop Lawrence C. Provenzano, of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island in Garden City. He indicated priests in his church will conduct same-sex marriages as soon as the law goes into effect.

"I think it is a victory for personal and human rights," said Rabbi Jay Rosenbaum of Temple Israel of Lawrence, a reform synagogue. "It is significant it comes in this week leading to the Fourth of July, when we celebrate our independence and right to live our lives in accordance with our own conscience."

Suffolk Legis. Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor), who married his longtime partner, Robert, in Connecticut in 2009, watched on television Friday night as the State Senate passed the law. "You could hear the yelps of joy from my twin daughters in my house," Cooper said.

At the Fire Island ferry Saturday, Anthony Chiocchi, 31, a gay businessman from Manhattan, predicted the new law would soon become commonplace.

"I'm not a huge activist, but it's important," he said. "When people look back in 100 years, they'll say 'People were against this?' "

-- With Emily Ngo

and Emily Dooley