NYC marriage bureau rebuffs same-sex couples

Hundreds of same-sex couples seeking to wed were turned away from the city marriage bureau Thursday, part of a nationwide protest aimed at recent decisions restricting the right to marry to a man and a woman.

Wearing signs that said “Just Not Married,” the activists were part of a wave of demonstrations expected throughout the day at marriage bureaus or county clerks’ offices from New York City to California, in communities large and small.

Matt Flanders, 37, of Brooklyn, participated with his 29-year-old partner, Will Jennings. Both wore gold engagement rings.

When he was denied a marriage license, Flanders said he told officials: “‘I should be able to marry the person I love.’ And they said, ‘We can only offer you a domestic partnership.’”

Micah Stanek, 23, stood outside in a floor-length wedding veil after he and his partner were rejected. He said he moved to New York from San Francisco after same-sex marriage was outlawed in California on the November ballot.

“New York is especially important because the rest of the country follows what happens here,” he said.

Outside the bureau, protesters sang “Love and Marriage” and chanted, “What do we want? Marriage! When do we want it? Now!” One man held a sign that read: “Love your husband? Let me love mine!”

The protests, part of the 12th annual Freedom to Marry Week, were considered more important than ever this year because they come in the wake of California’s Proposition 8 vote that overturned same-sex marriage and just as New Yorkers look to their state Senate to pass legislation that could lead to legalized same-sex marriage.

Some of the largest gatherings were expected in California, where the state’s Supreme Court will hear oral arguments March 5 over whether to restore California same-sex marriages. The court could render a decision as early as June.