NY City governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill at midnight
on Friday after the Republican-controlled senate voted 33-29 in
favour of allowing gay marriage, despite only four Republicans
voting for the bill.
The decision clears the way for same-sex couples to
legally wed within 30 days - and locals are taking full
advantage.
Now, numerous couples have proposed to each other in
anticipation of the law-change which takes effect on 25 July.
One woman, lesbian Bryce Croft, told Official Wire: "We've been
waiting to get married in Central Park for years, and now we got
here just in time for history to be made."
Bryce and her partner Staphanie are not legally married, but
share the same name. They are in the process of moving to Manhattan
from Ohio.
They were in the city when they learned that the bill had
passed.
"We cried over dinner, right into the mozzarella sticks,"
Stephanie said, adding that they had already selected a spot in
Central Park - the boulder she had marked with Bryce's name two
years ago.
Upon signing the bill Governor Cuomo said in a statement: "New
York has finally torn down the barrier that prevented same-sex
couples from exercising the freedom to marry and from receiving the
fundamental protections that so many couples and families take for
granted."
New York joins Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Vermont and the District of Columbia in recognising gay marriage,
and becomes the most populous state to do so.
