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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Search Search: New York chapel offers gay marriage service AFP - Thursday, August 6 NEW YORK (AFP) - - They came to Ave Maria as lovers and left 10 minutes later as husband and husband, married in a New York chapel despite a ban on gay marriage in the state. ADVERTISEMENT "I never thought this would finally happen," said 25-year-old Omar Portacio, who on Saturday immediately adopted the surname of his partner John, with whom he has lived in Brooklyn for a year. To celebrate their union, Omar and John came to a small "wedding chapel" that opened two weeks ago in the trendy, bohemian Lower East Side neighborhood. "We want to be recognized by our friends and our family, to be treated as a married couple," Omar told AFP. "Being married means a lot, it shows our love for each other, it shows we are accepted and recognized as a couple, it is not just somebody we are living with." Excited beyond measure to be able to say "yes" just like traditional couples, John, 26, agreed. "We wanted to make it a public thing, so everyone knows," he said just minutes before the ceremony. The space, no bigger than a garage and located directly on Norfolk Street, prepared for the occasion with several rows of chairs for guests and artificial flowers on the walls. The chapel was created by the owners of the space, Kevin Fey and Joseph Peter, who decided to change its purpose every four months. This time, it's a chapel dedicated to organizing marriage ceremonies, charging between 100 and 500 dollars per couple. The chapel is devoid of religious symbols and Kevin became a "reverend" at the age of 23 with a simple click of the mouse: Universal Life Church grants that title to just about anyone on the Internet almost instantaneously. "I became a reverend online just for this," he said. "I've performed 15 weddings, eight of them real and the rest were pretend weddings." As in Las Vegas, heterosexual couples can get married in just 10 minutes in a procedure that is as legally valid as a traditional marriage performed in city hall. Others do it just for fun. "Some people are getting married outside of the country, but they want to have a ceremony with their friends here in New York," explained Fey, decked out in a sober white suit for the occasion. The ceremony includes the traditional exchange of rings and vows, but is stripped of any religious references. The other three couples married on Saturday were merely symbolic acts of protest to New York's gay marriage ban, as with Sara and Lucy or Michael and Jaeme -- all in their twenties. "I am doing it because it is appalling that we still need to have this fight for equal rights," said Jaeme, 29, who took the opportunity to wear a wedding dress. In the United States, gay marriage is still banned in most of the nation's 50 states. It has been legalized in Iowa and five New England states north of New York: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. But 40 years after the Stonewall riots -- an uprising started at a New York City bar of the same name -- launched the gay liberation movement worldwide, New York has yet to pass legislation legalizing same-sex marriage. The New York State Assembly voted earlier this year on a bill to that effect, and Governor David Paterson has vowed to enact the legislation although it still faces a pitched battle in the state senate. "Hopes are high that when the New York Senate returns to business in September, it will move to pass the marriage bill already passed by the assembly," said Evan Wolfson, executive director of the Freedom to Marry movement. According to State Senator Tom Duane, an openly gay Democrat, "New Yorkers support same-sex marriage in large part because they believe that denying gay couples the right to marry is legally and morally wrong. "I am confident," he added, "that marriage equality will pass this year and that this legislation will pass with bipartisan support in the senate." Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Sign in to recommend this article » 2 users recommend Enlarge Photo It only costs a few dollars to get hitched in a small chapel. But it is located in Manhattan, not Las Vegas. It's the first budget wedding chapel in the city, and even offers a special ceremony for gays and lesbians. Language en Duration 00:01:54 Products PRWINT CodeName MMV88855 FileName MMV88855_TEN Omar Riaz, Groom Ben Smyth, Co-Founder, The Wedding Chapel John Potachio, Groom SCRIPT: NAT SOUND: Here Comes the Bride music At this tiny wedding chapel in New York City. Anyone can say I do. NAT SOT: I take great pleasure in announcing you husband and husband. You may kiss the groom. It might look like a wedding but this ceremony between John Portacio and Omar Riaz isnt real because in New York state, gay marriages still aren't legal. SOT 1: Omar Riaz, Groom, (English, 7 sec) I love John very much. And were not able to, we dont have the same rights as couples who are married. Its just. It hurts. The couple said their vows and exchanged rings at a 10-minute engagement ceremony offered by The Wedding Chapel. The small venue seats around 20 and is the first of its kind in Manhattan. Anyone can go before an ordained minister for a range of services, like a mock wedding or a real legal marriage. Since its opening on July 12 theres been a growing demand. The chapels owner says before New Yorkers had to travel long way these for these services. SOT 2: Ben Smyth- Co-Founder, GrandOpening host of The Wedding Chapel (English, 8 sec) "A lot of people have been calling us and theyve said we were going to go to Vegas, we dont have the money and were looking to do something local." Right now gay marriage is recognized in 6 states. Portacio says that's not good enough. He wont be happy until his union is legal in the city he calls home. SOT 3: John Portacio, Groom (English, 14 sec) Its kinda a slap in the face that we cant get married. We are not leaving our state to get married. Well fight in our state and along the channels in which we can to get married in this state. New York is one step closer to legalizing same-sex marriage. In May the state Assembly approved the measure- but until it's passed by the Senate couples like John and Omar will continue to find other ways to make their love public. NAT SOT: To John and Omar. SHOT LIST: All footage shot in New York City, NY on Aug. 1, 2009 - Two men walk up aisle at The Wedding Chapel -Male couple holding hands and kissing in front of minister who says I take great pleasure in announcing you husband and husband. You may kiss the groom. -Crowd clapping -SOUNDBITE 1: Omar Riaz, Groom-to-Be, (English, 6 sec) I love John very much. And were not able to, we dont have the same rights as couples who are married. Its just. It hurts. -Couple standing in front of minister holding hands -Close-up of hands -Pan down from ceiling to Wedding Chapel sign on wall -Empty seats in chapel -Zoom out from ministers face to see female couple in front of him -Wedding cake -Wide shot of chapel interior with girl in wedding dress walking up aisle -Shots of photographers - SOUNDBITE 2: Ben Smyth Co-Founder, GrandOpening host of The Wedding Chapel, (English, 8 sec) "They haven't necessarily delved into the details. They don't know what's going on with panels. They don't really want to know how an inverter works. They just want to know that they're getting great value on a reliable cutting edge system." -Girl walks up aisle to meet female partner -Close-up hand holding -SOUNDBITE 3: John Portacio, Groom-to-Be (English, 14 sec) Its kinda a slap in the face that we cant get married. We are not leaving our state to get married. Well fight in our state and along the channels in which we can to get married in this state. -Close-up couples feet dancing -Two couples dancing -Close-up hand with wedding band -Shot of crowd toasting with NAT SOT: To John and Omar. Most Popular – Top Stories Viewed Mexico swine flu cases jump, LatAm deaths soar Cupcakes for reporter on Obama's birthday Mexico registers jump in swine flu cases Tamiflu-resistant swine flu found on US-Mexico border UBS posts four-fold increase in quarterly loss View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. 199700735D). All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Community - Intellectual Property Rights Policy - Help

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