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SDWNY is thrilled that our Vice-President of Community Affairs Kitty Lambert and her partner, Cheryle Rudd, may become the very first legal New York State same-gender marriage later this month. Congratulations, Kitty and Cheryle!

“The Buffalo News: “Gay wedding in Falls may be state’s first”

Early July 24, with hundreds, if not thousands, of people on hand, Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd will stand next to Niagara Falls in hopes of becoming the first gay couple married in New York State.

“Prince William and Kate didn’t have as many people at their wedding as we will,” Lambert, one of the region’s most prominent gay rights activists, said Tuesday. “It’s going to be amazing. We’ve joked that we’re inviting 1,800 of our closest friends.”

And yes, Lambert and Rudd promise to be the first couple legally married under the state’s historic marriage equality law, which takes effect that day.

And what a party they have planned.

The celebration will start with a reception on Goat Island at 7 p.m. July 23 and end with a civil marriage ceremony on Luna Island shortly after midnight. Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster will officiate.

“Everyone is invited,” Lambert said. “We’re doing this because of what it will do for Western New York, and media is coming from all over the world to see it.”

For Rudd, the wedding marks the end of a more-than-eight-year wait.

“I’m thrilled,” she said. “We’re finally getting the same rights as everyone else. Nobody can take that away from us anymore.”

Lambert and Rudd are not the only ones with out-of-the-ordinary wedding stories.

Rick Crogan, head of the Main Street Business & Professional Association in Niagara Falls, finds himself in the unusual position of having to choose between politicians competing to officiate at his upcoming wedding. He said both politicians — Niagara Falls City Judges Diane L. Vitello and Angelo J. Morinello—believe strongly in the rights of gays to marry.

“They’re both arguing over who’s going to do it,” he said. “It got to the point where Judge Vitello’s mother grabbed my cheeks and said, ‘You have to let Diane do it.’ ”

Buffalo’s Unitarian Universalist Church is going out of its way to publicize its elation over the new law and its eagerness to marry gay couples once it takes effect.

“We’re going to throw the doors open,” said the Rev. Joel Miller. “These are people we’ve been taking care of for a long time, so its nice to see the state finally doing that, too.”

Miller said the church has hosted about 50 gay weddings since he arrived there 11 years ago and would love to see each of those couples return now that their marriages are recognized by the state.

For Lambert and Rudd, the new law marks the end of a struggle that often tested their personal relationship.

And for those who know them, it’s more than appropriate that they will be among the first, if not the first, to wed under New York’s new law.

As president of OUTspoken for Equality, a local gay rights group, Lambert was instrumental is getting the State Legislature to allow gays to marry.

“There’s a certain justice to that,” Dyster said of the wedding. “And I’m honored that she thought of Niagara Falls and agreed to shine the spotlight on Niagara Falls.”

To pave the way for the big event, Lambert persuaded a local municipal clerk to be on hand to sign their marriage license after midnight and a local State Supreme Court judge to waive the normal 24-hour waiting period, which will put them a day ahead of most couples.

She also called on former Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, a Buffalo Democrat and longtime friend, for help in securing Goat Island for the party.

“There may be other weddings that day,” Hoyt said, “but I don’t think there will be another wedding as well-attended or as happy and enthusiastic as this one.”

As she often does these days, Lambert is quick to mention the people who made her big day come to be, and State Sen. Mark Grisanti is often at the top of her very long list.

Grisanti, a Buffalo Republican, cast one of the deciding votes in the law’s passage.

“I’m happy for them,” he said Tuesday. “It’s important that they can finally realize that they count and that they matter to New York State.”

Lambert said the wedding is open to the public and suggested the guest list will include a fair number of VIPs. She stopped short of naming names, but when asked about reports that comedian Ellen De- Generes might come, she confirmed the possibility.

“All I can tell you is that she was invited,” Lambert said. “Wow, wouldn’t that be something if she came.”

pfairbanks@buffnews.com "

 

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article486991.ece 
 


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