Two Women

While standing outside observing the media as they interviewed West on live TV, I noticed two women standing by the door looking confused. 

They asked my friend and me, in disbelief, if it was really true that West was going to perform these marriages. We reassured them that it was true, and that it was all unfolding before our very eyes. 

They told us that they rushed to the Hall because they wanted their names on the list; they wanted to be married the next day. These women were Jennifer Smits, an English instuctor, and Dana Wegener, a chef, and it became very clear that they, like all the other couples, were normal, everyday people who just wished to be married.

We led them into the Hall and introduced them to West. They greeted him with hugs of appreciation, and asked if their wish could be fulfilled. 

West explained that the list was already full and growing and that he couldn't possibly marry everybody in one day. After explaining their concerns that they might never be married after tomorrow and that they wanted to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime situation, West agreed to put them on the list.

Fight for Family

The magnitude of the gay-marriage issue didn't really hit me until someone screamed to West from across the office: "A woman just called who's been with her partner for 23 years. She's dying of cancer and wants to be married tomorrow."

My stomach dropped and shivers ran through my body.

"Put her on the list," West said sternly.

This is when I realized what these marriages actually represent. Yes, they are about civil rights and equality for all, but there's more to it—something more elemental and personal involved. 

It is about the fight for family and love. It is about being able to visit your loved one in the hospital and not being denied access because you aren't a "relative" or "spouse." It is about recognition; the assertion that regardless of sexuality, we share a common ground: the need for love.

First Ceremonies

The next afternoon, February 27, Mayor West married 25 gay couples outside of Village Hall.

"This is the flowering of the largest civil rights movement that this country has seen in a generation," West told a crowd of over 300 SUNY New Paltz students and local residents.

The first couple to get married was Billiam van Roestenberg and Jeffrey S. McGowan. The couple first inspired West to marry them when they expressed their plans to marry abroad at a dinner party a couple of years ago.  

After finding out that he had the ability to solemnize (perform) marriages and consulting his lawyers, West proclaimed it an honor and a duty to marry his two friends.

"I took an oath when I came into office to uphold the Constitution," said West. "That's my obligation and duty."

Even though swarms of media made the marriages a public spectacle, Billiam van Roestenberg proclaimed it a wonderful day.

"This is a very happy day for me, and my partner—my husband—and for the citizens for the U.S," he said. "If you fight and believe in good things, they will happen."

Jennifer Smits and Dana Wegener's wish came true. They walked down the aisle dressed in pink; after their vows, they turned to the crowd, smiling and holding their hands up in victory.

"People need to see that this can happen, and that it is happening," said Wegener. "[Our relationship] doesn't feel any different than it did yesterday, except now we know the mayor and town support us."

After the ceremonies ended and the dozens of media vans cleared out, students continued to hold up their protest signs, telling President Bush to "get out of my bedroom" and "equal rights for all." President Bush had just proposed amending the Constitution to ban gay marriages. 

Students Are the Backbone

SUNY New Paltz students have become the backbone of the New Paltz gay-marriage movement. They are the volunteers, the organizers, and the activists. They have put their studies on hold to spend hours in Village Hall assisting West and his staff. 

Their energy and vigor help me understand what it might have been like to live through the 1960s civil rights movement. What it might have been like to be a student and participate in sit-ins for desegregation and equal rights. 

The only difference is, my fellow students don't have to be bussed down south; they only need to look to their campus and surrounding community to find the "flowering" of a new civil rights movement.

On March 4, over a 100 students participated in a rally against Bush's proposed amendment to the Constitution and in support of West.

"The real heroes are the thousands of people struggling for their equal rights. They are the heroes; the people we can't name," said West, pointing to the crowd.

Just a day before, the Ulster County District Attorney, Donald A. Williams, had charged West with violating the New York State Domestic Relations Law, which forbids solemnizing marriages without licenses. West pled not guilty to charges of issuing 19 marriages without licenses.

Many of my fellow SUNY New Paltz students believe that West was unjustly charged. 

"The charges against West are morally wrong," said Mike Cambell, a freshman English major. "This country is inherently homophobic. I feel proud to be part of this last frontier of civil rights."

At the end of the rally, Anurita Sharma, activism and educations chair of the Queer Student Union, spoke to the crowd: "We stand here today in support of equal rights and equal marriage for all people. We stand against the amendment that Bush supports that would ban same-sex marriage."

The crowd responded with a resounding, "I do.

Renewed Movement

On March 6, Unitarian ministers Kay A. Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey took over, performing more than a dozen same-sex marriages at Blueberry Fields, an area in downtown New Paltz.

There was less media presence, yet the crowd was thick. Couples stood under a pitched tent, holding bouquets of donated roses from local floral shops, grasping hands.

"I'm so happy to be witnessing such a beautiful thing," said Haley Martin, a freshman at SUNY New Paltz. "I just heard a little girl running around screaming, 'My parents are getting married.' I couldn't help but cry for such a justified victory."