Miami Beach to fire two cops who beat, falsely arrested gay man at Flamingo Park

• Prosecutors say they believe gay tourist's claims

By DAVID SMILEY AND STEVE ROTHAUS, dsmiley@MiamiHerald.com

The two Miami Beach police officers accused of yelling anti-gay epithets at a tourist, kicking him and falsely arresting him after he called 911 to report them beating a man in a South Beach park are going to be fired, according to city officials.

On Monday, City Commissioner Michael Góngora said he was told by Miami Beach’s city manager that the city intends to kick officers Frankly Forte and Eliut Hazzi off the police force.

“I was personally disgusted by the actions taken by them and have been pushing the city administration quite some time to commence termination proceedings,” he said.

Babak Movahedi, president of Miami Beach Gay Pride, said he was glad the gay community “stood strong” and pressured Beach officials to take action.

“It sets a precedence that you can’t discriminate against anyone and get away with it. [Forte and Hazzi] tried to cover it up and arrested the guy. It’s an abuse of power,” Movahedi said. “Kudos to the city. They’ve taken it seriously. ... This gives you a prime example that if the community is together and speaks with one voice, that anything can be accomplished. When any community member is discriminated, we should not stand for it. And we did not.”

Though the alleged incident involving the officers happened in early 2009, the announcement that the city plans to fire the men, who would be the third and fourth Miami Beach police officers fired this month, comes on the heel of a seven-week stretch in which Miami Beach police have been involved in two controversial incidents.

On Memorial Day, 11 officers — seven from Miami Beach and four from Hialeah — shot more than 100 rounds during a fatal, videotaped shooting of a driver on Collins Avenue who is accused of trying to run over police and may have been shooting from his car.

Then on July 3, Officer Derick Kuilan — one of the officers who fired his weapon during the Memorial Day shooting — crashed his ATV into a man and woman on the beach, seriously injuring both. Kuilan was on-duty and allegedly partying with another officer, Rolando Gutierrez, at the Clevelander before hopping onto his ATV with a woman he met at a bachelorette party.

Mayor Matti Herrera Bower has said Gutierrez was drinking that night, but police have not said whether Kuilan had alcohol in his system.

Both Kuilan and Gutierrez were fired. On Monday, the state attorney’s office said it will hold a Tuesday afternoon press conference with Miami Beach Police Chief Carlos Noriega in which new details about the crash will be released.

Gene Gibbons, attorney for both Kuilan and Gutierrez, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Forte and Hazzi have been under investigation by Miami Beach Internal Affairs and prosecutors since The Miami Herald reported on the alleged March 2009 beating and wrongful arrest of Los Angeles resident Harold Strickland in February 2010.

Strickland, a former Beach resident, said that about 1 a.m. March 13, 2009, he was visiting South Florida and wanted to see his old neighborhood. He walked past Flamingo Park near 14th Street and Michigan Avenue and said he saw two guys beating a man and kicking him in the head like "a football."

Strickland called 911, realizing as he described the beating that the two assailants - with guns, walkie-talkies and handcuffs - were undercover police officers.

For nearly five minutes, Strickland spoke with a 911 dispatcher until he said the two men were "coming after me!" The men, later identified as Forte and Hazzi, approached Strickland and can be heard on the recording asking him why he is there, where he lives and if he has identification. Then the line went dead.

Strickland, who according to state attorney’s office documents said the two officers repeatedly called him “fag and faggot,” was arrested for loitering and prowling, but the charges were dropped.

Oscar Mendoza, the man Strickland says the two officers were beating, was arrested that night. Prosecutors later dropped charges of resisting arrest without violence.

After a nearly year-long investigation, prosecutors also declined to press charges against Hazzi and Forte, saying there was insufficient evidence to prove the officers’ guilt to a jury. Instead, they suggested Miami Beach police take “appropriate action.”

City Manager Jorge Gonzalez said Monday that the two officers will be told why they are being fired in a hearing scheduled for Aug. 1 and will have a chance to fight for their jobs.

After the state attorney’s office closed the criminal investigation, Forte and Hazzi were brought back to the police station and assigned to administrative duty. In November, the ACLU of Florida filed a complaint in federal court against Miami Beach and the two officers individually. Strickland is seeking more than $15,000 in damages.

ACLU spokesman Derek Newton said his group is pleased the officers will be fired.

“It’s a very satisfying outcome, assuredly, to demonstrate clearly that officers who violate the public trust and engage in misconduct will be subject to consequences,” Newton said. “We think that’s very positive and encouraging. We hope that it sets a standard for other communities in the region and state in addressing police misconduct.”

Gay marriage opponents sue to overturn NY law

By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press

GENESEO, N.Y. -- Opponents to New York's gay marriage law filed the first lawsuit challenging the measure, an anticipated salvo that came one day after weddings were celebrated around the state.

A representative of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms and a rabbi said in a lawsuit filed Monday in state court that New York's Senate violated its own procedures and the state's open meetings law when it approved the bill on June 24.

The lawsuit claims that the Senate prevented lawmakers who opposed the bill from speaking and that the Senate didn't follow procedures that require a bill to go through appropriate committees before a full Senate vote.

Opponents of the gay marriage law had promised lawsuits.

"We should have an open and deliberative process," the Rev. Jason McGuire, executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, told The Associated Press. "If truly the legislation can stand on its own merits then it should be able to withstand being deliberated publicly."

Spokesmen for Senate Republicans and the state's attorney general declined to comment.

Hundreds of gay couples got married starting just past midnight Sunday as New York became the sixth and largest state to legalize same-sex weddings. Ceremonies were held around the state, mostly in New York City where the day's celebration was tempered by a protest in which thousands of opponents marched to the United Nations.

On Monday, a mass wedding in Niagara Falls saw 46 same-sex couples exchange vows.

The bill was adopted the night of June 24, the last day of the legislative session after days of closed-door negotiations involving Gov. Andrew Cuomo and key lawmakers. The lawsuit claims that Cuomo improperly waived the three-day waiting period between a bill's introduction and a vote. Such waivers are common in Albany for negotiated bills.

The debate on the night of the vote on June 24 was severely restricted in a manner unprecedented in recent years.

The Senate's Republican majority allowed unlimited time for supporters of the bill to speak, including Democratic Sen. Thomas Duane who sponsored it and Republican Sen. Stephen Saland who provided the pivotal vote. But Lieutenant Gov. Robert Duffy, presiding of the Senate, repeatedly cut off Democratic Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., a minister who led the opposition to the bill. Diaz sought to persuade his colleagues to vote "no."

The lawsuit also claims that promises of campaign contributions were made to Republican senators who voted for the bill.

Financial filings with the state Board of Elections July 15 showed Cuomo and the four Republican senators who voted for gay marriage received large campaign donations from groups and individuals who pushed for the legalization of gay marriage.

Associated Press writers George M. Walsh in Albany, Frank Eltman in Manhasset and Verena Dobnik and Samantha Gross in New York City contributed to this report.

HGTV's 'Color Splash' host David Bromstad of Miami launches HIV testing campaign

BY STEVE ROTHAUS, srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

Miami’s David Bromstad, host of HGTV’s Color Splash, just returned from New York, where he launched a new AIDS prevention campaign, “Know Yourself: Get HIV Tested.”

“Getting HIV tested is very important to protect yourself and know your status,” Bromstad told The Miami Herald. “People are a little complacent about it or they’re scared. If you’re complacent, that’s not an excuse. If you’re scared, it’s not a fun thing to get tested. The balance is held in a piece of paper.”

Bromstad, 37, says bluntly that people should be afraid before they have sex, not later when they’re tested: “You should put the condom on the penis. That’s the fear that should come first.”

The TV celebrity, who is being compensated by drug manufacturer Janssen Therapeutics, will design and paint a mural that will be unveiled in New York City in September, to recognize Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

“I’m talking with people who are members of the LGBT community who also have HIV. I’m asking what their opinions should be,” Bromstad says of the mural. “I’m still formulating ideas. I know it’s going to be colorful.”

Bromstad, who came out 16 years ago, says the campaign is to “protect everybody.”

“People are getting on the lazy side. They say, ‘It’s manageable so I don’t have to be so afraid of it.’ That’s not the attitude we need to be taking,” Bromstad says. “I adore our community. It’s an amazing place. They supported me even before I was on television. They’ve given me a lot, and it’s time for me to give back. I have a lot of friends who are HIV positive.”

HRC names Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami 'Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality'

• HRC lauds Jackson Memorial Hospital for making changes after Langbehn-Pond case

News release from Jackson Memorial Hospital:

Jackson is one of only 27 healthcare facilities in the U.S. – and the only one in Florida – to be recognized with this distinction

MIAMI, FL – Jackson Health System is one of only 27 healthcare facilities in the United States – and the only one in Florida – to be named a “Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality.”

The Healthcare Equality Index 2011 report, published by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, gave Jackson top marks for its policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) patients and their families. These policies include patient and employment non-discrimination, visitation and cultural competency training for staff.

“Our mission is to provide a single, high standard of quality care for the residents of Miami-Dade County,” said Carlos A. Migoya, president and CEO of Jackson Health System. “We are proud to be recognized as a ‘Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality’.”

Founded in 1980, HRC is the largest LGBT civil rights organization in the country. Its report this year rates 87 survey respondents that represent 375 facilities nationwide.

For more information on the Healthcare Equality Index 2011, or to download a free copy of the report, visit www.hrc.org/hei.

Video | NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg presides over wedding of aides John Feinblatt and Jonathan Mintz

On YouTube:

On the first day that same-sex weddings became legal in New York and gay couples began exchanging wedding vows across the state, NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg presided over the wedding of two of his top aides, John Feinblatt and Jonathan Mintz.

Gallery | SummerFest 2011 tea dance at The Palace on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach

Throngs packed The Palace on Ocean Drive in South Beach Sunday afternoon for the closing-day tea dance of SummerFest 2011, the three-day party to benefit the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Click the picture to view a gallery. All photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff.

Couples wed on 1st day gay marriage is legal in NY

By CHRIS HAWLEY, Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Buoyant gay couples cheered by supporters began marrying Sunday on the landmark day that New York became the sixth and largest state to recognize same-sex weddings and provided fresh energy to the national gay rights movement.

Couples began exchanging vows at midnight from Niagara Falls to Long Island, though the center of the action was in New York City, where officials expected to host hundreds of same-sex weddings throughout the day. About 100 couples waited in line on a sweltering morning in Manhattan for the chance to exchange vows at the city clerk's office.

Some people waiting to wed clutched bouquets and wore tuxedos or wedding dresses before they were ushered into the clerk's office for a license and a ceremony in one of the building's simple chapels.

The first couple to marry in Manhattan were Phyllis Siegel, 76, and Connie Kopelov, 84, who have been together for 23 years. Kopelov arrived in a wheelchair and stood with the assistance of a walker. During the service, Siegel wrapped her hand in Kopelov's hand and they both grasped the walker

Witnesses cheered and wiped away tears after the two women vowed to "honor and cherish" each other as spouses and then kissed.

"I am breathless. I almost couldn't breathe," Siegel said after the ceremony. "It's mind-boggling. The fact that's it's happening to us - that we are finally legal and can do this like everyone else."

Outside afterward, Siegel raised her arms exultantly as Kopelov, in a wheelchair, held out a marriage certificate.

Also in the first wave of couples to say "I do" in Manhattan were Daniel Hernandez, 53, and Nevin Cohen, 48, Manhattan residents who met in 1998. The two men, wearing matching navy sport jackets, kissed as a group of four friends clapped and news photographers' cameras snapped.

"It feels great," said Hernandez after the ceremony. "To have achieved this in my lifetime and see so many couples who have been loved and living together, to see them finally become part of a greater community of loving couples is phenomenal."

New York's adoption of legal same-sex marriage is viewed as a pivotal moment in the national gay rights movement and was expected to galvanize supporters and opponents alike. The state joined Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, along with Washington, D.C., when it voted last month to legalize gay marriage.

Protest rallies were planned in Manhattan, Buffalo, Rochester and Albany on Sunday afternoon. Gay marriage opponents unhappy that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers legalized same-sex marriage last month are calling for a statewide referendum on the issue.

Clerks in New York City and about a dozen other cities statewide opened their doors Sunday to cater to same-sex couples. In New York City and other locations, judges waived a mandatory 24-hour waiting period that allowed couples to exchange vows moments after receiving their licenses.

In Farmingville on Long Island, Steven Hammer, 46, and Joe Lobosco, 63, were among the steady flow of people showing up for a license. The residents of Ridge, N.Y., were married in Canada eight years ago, but opted for another ceremony in their home state.

"After 21 years together, we're not going to get cold feet," Hammer said. "It justifies everything we've been living for 21 years."

First in line across the state in Buffalo were Daniel Rodgers, 54, and Scott Klaurens, 40, who were married in shorts, T-shirts and sneakers. They had gone expecting only to get a license and planned to wed Tuesday, but were told they could go ahead Sunday because of their marriage six years ago in Toronto.

"This morning has been like flower opening up," Rodgers said "This is just a flower opening up for us and everyone else, a flower of equality."

Initially, New York City officials had projected that about 2,500 couples might show up at the city clerk's offices hoping to get married on Sunday, but by the time a 48-hour lottery had drawn to a close on Thursday, 823 couples had signed up - 59 more than the city had planned to accommodate. The city will perform ceremonies for all 823.

A party atmosphere reigned in the lobby of the Manhattan clerk's office. Cheers and applause broke out whenever a couple was handed their white-and-blue wedding certificate. Balloons floated overhead. One couple wore matching kilts; another wore sparkly crowns. Children scurried up and down the lobby; workers with bullhorns called out the numbers of each couple.

Couples posed for pictures in front of a photo backdrop of City Hall and bought T-shirts saying "I got married in New York City" from the clerk's office gift shop.

There were some glitches, though. In Brooklyn, Eufemio Torres and John Torres were told incorrectly by a city employee that they could not wed Sunday because Eufemio had only a Mexican passport.

"Our hearts sank. But I'm a fighter, and we were not going home," said John Torres, a legal secretary.

Soon after speaking with the Brooklyn borough president's chief of staff, the pair stood before a judge in the hall's elaborately wood-carved main chamber. Eufemio Torres cradled a bouquet of white lilies and orchids, and the men took their wedding vows.

In Niagara Falls, gay-rights activists Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd were legally married the very first moment they could be during a midnight ceremony.

With the rainbow-lit falls as a backdrop, Lambert, 54, and Rudd, 53, were among the first gay couples to tie the knot with the blessing of the state. Lambert and Rudd, who have 12 grandchildren between them, have been together for more than a decade and had long been fighting for the right to marry.

The couple, both from Buffalo, smiled broadly as they exchanged traditional marriage vows, promising to love and cherish each other in sickness and in health. A crowd of several hundred people cheered as they were pronounced married and shared their first kiss.

"What an incredible night this was," said Lambert, who wore an electric blue satin gown with a sequined train for the ceremony and carried a bouquet of blue hydrangeas. " Everything was absolutely perfect."

In Albany, Mayor Jerry Jennings performed marriages at 12:01 a.m. Sunday in the Common Council's chambers.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Frank Eltman in Farmingville, Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo and Verena Dobnik in New York City.

Gallery | SummerFest 2011 at Score nightclub on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach

Hundreds packed Score nightclub on Lincoln Road late Saturday to dance to the music of celebrity DJ Rafael Calvente of Brazil, pictured right with Michael Bath of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, as SummerFest 2011 continues on South Beach.

SummerFest concludes Sunday with a brunch at Lords South Beach and tea dance at The Palace on Ocean Drive. The event benefits the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Click the pictures to view a gallery from Saturday night's party at Score. Photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff

A buzzing NY readies for hundreds of gay weddings

By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- Still in the glow of midnight marriages across New York, hundreds of gay couples were expected to marry on Sunday on the first full day that same-sex weddings were legal in the Empire State.

New York City alone was ready to host several hundred same-sex weddings, and clerks, judges and other officials in several cities around the state were opening their doors on a Sunday to cater to gay couples.

Judges were being posted in New York City clerks' offices on Sunday to officiate and to consider waiver requests to the state's mandatory 24-hour wait between issuing a license and a having ceremony. Couples without waivers can't wed until Monday or Tuesday, depending on whether their local clerks issue licenses Sunday.

Initially, New York City officials had projected that about 2,500 couples might show up at the city clerk's offices hoping to get married on Sunday, but by the time a 48-hour lottery had drawn to a close on Thursday, 823 couples had signed up - 59 more than the city had planned to accommodate. The city will perform ceremonies for all 823.

The first couples got married at the stroke of midnight Saturday in every corner of the state, from Niagara Falls to the capital in Albany to Long Island.

New York became the sixth, and largest, state to allow gay marriages last month, a highly anticipated vote that was viewed as a pivotal moment in the national gay rights movement and was expected to galvanize supporters and opponents alike.

Gay-rights activists Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd were legally married the very first moment they could be during a midnight ceremony at Niagara Falls.

With a rainbow-lit Niagara Falls as a backdrop, Lambert, 54, and Rudd, 53, were among the first gay couples to tie the knot with the blessing of the state. Lambert and Rudd, grandmothers with 12 grandchildren between them, have been together for more than a decade and had long been fighting for the right to marry.

The couple, both from Buffalo, smiled broadly as they exchanged traditional marriage vows, promising to love and cherish each other in sickness and in health. A crowd of several hundred people cheered as they were pronounced married and shared their first kiss.

"What an incredible night this was," said Lambert, who wore an electric blue satin gown with a sequined train for the midnight ceremony and carried a bouquet of blue hydrangeas. "This was an amazing night. Everything was absolutely perfect."

Rudd, who wore a white tuxedo with tails and white tennis shoes, said she felt "great relief" at being married because now she's "just like everyone else" and has the same rights.

"It feels great: I'm married," she said with an excited laugh.

Mayor Paul Dyster performed the ceremony, which was attended by some of the state lawmakers whose vote last month made it possible.

Lambert said in the days leading up to the event that she had told Rudd "way back that when this went through we won't wait a moment longer than we have to."

In Albany, Mayor Jerry Jennings performed marriages at 12:01 a.m. Sunday in the Common Council's chambers. A state Supreme Court judge waived the state-mandated 24-hour waiting period, Jennings said.

About 300 people packed the chambers for multiple ceremonies. Ariel Heintze and Kerry Doutrich, of Boulder, Colo., turned a long-planned visit to a friend into a reason to get a marriage license. Engaged three years, they'll marry later at the home of their friend, Jan Moyer, of Brunswick.

"It's absolutely historic," Doutrich said.

New York's vote to allow gay marriage provided fresh energy to the national drive for same-sex weddings. New York joined Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, along with Washington, D.C.

Advocates and opponents, many of whom reject same-sex marriage on religious grounds, said the New York vote, propelled by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, would invigorate both sides.

Protests were planned around the state for Sunday, including at the state Capitol.

In Niagara Falls, Lambert and Rudd chose Luna Island at the foot of the Falls for the site of their ceremony, following in the tradition of countless other couples who've been marrying there for more than a century. The waterfalls were lit, for the first time, in the hues of the rainbow, the symbol of gay equality and pride.

The couple carefully planned a ceremony that would have them saying "I do" at one second past midnight, following a candlelit procession.

The Falls also will be the backdrop for a group wedding on Monday, with more than 40 couples planning to simultaneously marry.

On Long Island, Frank Fuertes and Patrick Simeone were married - again - in North Hempstead, just east of New York City. They married in Quebec three years ago and had considered themselves married since they met and moved in together in 1988. They had a small ceremony with a handful of friends in front of Town Clerk Leslie Gross and planned to be back at "business as usual" Monday morning.

"To me, it was 'About time,'" said Fuertes, a 55-year-old operations director for a retail company.

Simeone, a stylist on Long Island's north shore, said he's only sorry it took New York so long to recognize same-sex marriage.

"It's such a leader in many different ways," he said.

After the ceremony, Simeone said that despite being together 23 years, he felt different.

"We're happily married," he said shortly after 1 a.m. "I feel more loving. Kinder, more tender, more loved."

Bittersweet weddings approach for NY gay couples

By CHRIS HAWLEY and MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Elissa Kane and Lynne Lekakis wed in an emotional ceremony in 2004 with their 7-year-old daughter, Nora, spreading rose petals down the aisle, church members standing with them in support and Kane's father toasting the couple.

Although they were married by a Unitarian minister, they were denied a license by the city clerk.

It will be a different story for the Albany couple on Monday.

New York will usher in legal gay marriage Sunday with an expected wedding boom as hundreds of people like Kane and Lekakis seize the moment. Couples planning to wed in the first week under the new law talked not only about blissful futures, but also about hard-fought victories, political statements and a sense that New York is catching up with what has been in their hearts for a long time.

"We've been marginalized by state law for so long and to finally be invited into the party makes me well up and makes me want to cry every time I think about it," said Mark Lynch, who will marry his partner of 29 years Monday in a group ceremony at Niagara Falls. "We're trying to make this a great celebration."

New York will become the sixth and largest state to sanction same-sex marriage at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. More than a half-dozen couples will exchange vows in the moments after midnight and over a thousand more could wed within several days. Clerks' offices in New York City and a dozen other cities will open Sunday specifically to handle the crush of couples.

The Legislature's recent decision to legalize gay marriage was eyed keenly by advocates and opponents alike to see if it would reinvigorate momentum in the national push for gay marriage. Those who objected, mostly on religious grounds, vowed to continue to fight and have promised lawsuits in New York.

Tiffany Peckosh and Meredith Soffrin will make official a romance that began in 2007 when Peckosh browsed through a friend's MySpace page and spotted a picture of a dark-haired girl with a great smile.

Peckosh, 31, is from Dubuque, Iowa, and Soffrin is a native of Washington, D.C. They moved in together in 2008 in Brooklyn - and New York City is where they want to wed.

"This is where we take our walks, this is where we discovered each other," said Soffrin, a social worker. "So this is where we wanted to do it."

Judges will be posted in New York City clerks' offices on Sunday to officiate and to consider waiver requests to the state's mandatory 24-hour wait between issuing a license and a ceremony. Couples without a waiver cannot wed until Monday or Tuesday, depending on whether their local clerk issues licenses Sunday.

Among the weekday weddings: Lynch and Thomas Korn will join more than 35 other couples Monday in a group wedding at Niagara Falls and more than 80 couples plan to get married Tuesday at Bethpage State Park on Long Island.

Lynch, 56, and Korn invited all of their friends, family members and co-workers to watch them exchange vows in Irish linen shirts and matching scarves in a rainbow pattern, in homage to the gay pride symbol. To Lynch, the marriage to a partner he committed to in the '80s is also a symbol, but a hugely important one.

"We decided to take this stance to make as loud a noise as possible," Lynch said.

Korn had waited so long to marry his partner that he popped the question before Gov. Andrew Cuomo even signed the bill into law the night of June 24. Korn was at their home near Niagara Falls watching the Senate debate the bill that night when he called Lynch at the Italian restaurant where he works.

"I said two things," Korn, 51, recalled. "One: 'I already bought milk, so don't bother,' and No. 2: 'Would you marry me?'"

The weeks since have been a whirlwind of getting out invitations, getting fitted for rings and other details. Lynch said that every room of their home on Lake Ontario will be full for the celebration and that they are setting tents up on the lawn for kids to sleep in.

In Albany, Kane and Lekakis are taking a more low-key approach. They were married in 2004 in their Albany Unitarian Universalist church with another gay couple after an invitation from their minister, who was inspired by recent same-sex commitment ceremonies south of Albany, in New Paltz.

The Albany clerk refused to give them a license both before and after the wedding, helping set up a landmark court case that they and other gay couples who sued eventually lost in 2006.

Still Kane asserts: "In our minds, we were married."

And in one sense, they won: That court ruling clearly put the onus on the Legislature to add gay marriage, and five years later it did, adding New York to the other five states that allow same-sex marriage: Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa. Washington, D.C., also allows gay couples to wed.

On Monday, Kane and Lekakis will head to Albany's old stone City Hall - the same place they were denied in 2004 - to get a marriage license. After seven years, they want the legal protections and recognition that piece of paper will give them as soon as possible.

No big ceremony this time. They have invited friends and supporters for a toast at their church Tuesday evening as the reverend who married them in 2004 solemnizes their marriage. They sent out an email invitation with the subject line: "Second Time for Real."

"I think we're feeling very much like a lot of gay couples who have had their ceremony. We're ready to just have it done with," Kane said. "I don't need another party. I don't need another wedding. I had the best one."

New York is by far the largest state to legalize same-sex marriage. With 19.4 million people, it has a higher population than the other five states with gay marriage combined.

New York is home to 65,303 same-sex couples, according to census data reported by the Williams Institute, a think tank at the University of California-Los Angeles. Thousands of those couples have already been married in other states. Others, like Stephen Williams and Joey Pressley, have been waiting for the chance to marry in their home state.

"We talked about, maybe we should go to Connecticut or D.C. or some other locale and get married," Pressley said. "But we decided this is our home and we didn't want to do it anywhere else."

The two men met in Greenwich Village on a cold night in 1990, moved in together in 2004, but waited to tie the knot.

Williams, 49, and Pressley, 48, are planning to get their marriage license on Sunday and get hitched at a ceremony on Friday at a restaurant in Harlem. Former Mayor David Dinkins, whom Pressley met while attending a class at Columbia University, will officiate.

In some ways their marriage will be a bittersweet achievement, Williams said. Both men lost "tons" of friends to AIDS during the 1990s, and the couple will miss them on Friday, he said.

"Those years were really hard," Williams said. "There are friends who have been gone for 20 years now who not only will not be here to celebrate this, but also weren't here to fight for it. And I think our friends would have fought for our marriage as a civil right."

Hawley reported from New York City.