NYACK -- Nora and Tina Lopez-Chiaffarelli walked into a gazebo, holding hands and flower bouquets. The same-sex Nyack couple, together for a year and a half, proclaimed their love for each other amid a community of friends and family.
Their wedding ceremony was the first of the day at Nyack's Memorial Park.
The Rev. Sala Saran of Valley Cottage, an associate minister with the Interfaith Temple of New York City, had announced last week that she would be available to perform marriage ceremonies throughout the day at the park's gazebo. Saturday was her first time performing same-sex marriages.
"I am happy to be able to honor people who have been marginalized because of their sexual orientation," she said.
Saran has dedicated her career to helping marginalized people. She works full-time as an administrater at ARC of Rockland's branch in Pearl River. The agency runs a day program for youngsters and adults with developmental disabilities.
Two couples signed up for Saturday's ceremonies in advance, and Saran said she would welcome others until 5 p.m.
"I had three that were scheduled," she said, "but the third couple canceled last night because they want to go through the planning process. They want the whole experience."
Saran's goal, she said, was to give the couples that showed up a real wedding ceremony. She chose Nyack's Memorial Park for the services because of the view overlooking the Hudson River and the gazebo that lent itself to celebration.
"My intent is to do what a real minister does," she said, "which is to uphold human rights and preserve what is sacred, and for me that is love."
Nyack Mayor Richard Kavesh attended the Lopez-Chiaffarelli wedding, experiencing his first same-sex ceremony. "This is one of the happiest days of my life as mayor," he said. "Marrying loving couples is certainly the best part of my job."
With gay marriage legalized in New York this summer, same-sex weddings have been springing up throughout the state.
On July 24 - the first day same-sex weddings were legal - former Nyack Mayor John Shields, who had been given a one-year appointment by the Village Board to oversee weddings, married Barbara Lahiff, 68, and Kathy Chandler, 64, of Garnerville.
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