New York, New Jersey, Connecticut News: Council

Sunday, 20 May 2012

Council speaker Quinn marries partner

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Wedding bells for New York City's first openly gay City Council Speaker.

Christine Quinn exchanged vows Saturday with her long-time partner Kim Catullo, just a few blocks from their home in Chelsea.

The arrivals for the private ceremony were like a who's who of New York's political landscape.

There was Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and New York's U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer.

Also attending were city council members and state assembly members, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who signed the state's bill legalizing gay marriage almost one year ago.

The wedding took place at the High Line Stages.

The two first met 11 years ago, and we're told the ceremony featured a video about their shared history.

The theme of the wedding was "Spring in New York," and was inspired by the High Line city park.

A variety of local flowers were used.

The brides carried wildflowers in the spirit of the High Line only feet away.

The 5-tier cake is chocolate chip, and the bridal party walked in to a mix of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and "What A Wonderful World."

Quinn wore a gown made by designer Carolina Herrera. Catullo wore a cream silk suit designed by Ralph Lauren.

Each of the brides' fathers walked them down the aisle.

But on Friday Speaker Quinn joked, don't expect her dad to say too much more than he already has.

"My sister came up with a ploy that if any of you ask him a question for the next period of time, he's supposed to say 'My hearing aid isn't working, I have no idea.,'" said Quinn.

Catullo's nephew described how he told his young son, who saw them as a couple..no matter what.

"I go, 'Kimmy and Chris are getting married,'" said Jeff Catullo.

"He goes, 'I thought they were married already.' It really gets the point across."

But it is set against a political backdrop that's changing, at least in the White House, with the president declaring his support for gay marriage only a week and a half ago.

"People you'd never expect are for gay marriage in all parts of the country," said Sen. Schumer. "So it's not a question of if, but when..everywhere."

The brides both lost their mothers to cancer when they were younger, and so some of their gifts will go to a fund for Memorial Sloan-Kettering - to fight womens' cancers.

Quinn is expected to run to replace Bloomberg next year.

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Saturday, 19 May 2012

Council speaker Quinn to marry partner this weekend

by SAMANTHA GROSSNEW YORK -- From the beginning, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's wedding plans have played out on a very public stage: Last year, she interrupted a news conference to announce the passage of same-sex marriage legislation and said it would make her own nuptials possible.

But the celebration itself will be mostly private. The media isn't invited on Saturday, when Quinn - the city's first openly gay council speaker - marries her longtime partner, Kim Catullo.

In the days leading up to the ceremony, happening a short walk from their home in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, City Hall has been a backdrop for a flurry of wedding preparations. Earlier this week, Quinn's father interrupted a news conference to hand her a bag containing a hair comb. A question-and-answer session with reporters was dominated by queries about the couple's plans.

Quinn acknowledged that, with four days to go until the ceremony, there was at least one important detail that she still had to take care of.

"I have not yet written my vows. But I have stressed over them a great deal," she said. "Kim has, she's way ahead of me on this."

Among the guests expected at the event are Gov. Andrew Cuomo - who pushed through the law that makes the wedding possible - as well as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer.

Both women lost their mothers to cancer when they were teenagers, and they have established a women's cancer research fund in their honor in advance of the ceremony. Bloomberg, a billionaire who lobbied for the marriage legalization along with Quinn, has said he will make a donation.

The wedding comes 10 days after President Barack Obama voiced his support for same-sex marriage. After his announcement, Quinn - who is expected to run to replace Bloomberg next year and currently leads the pack of presumptive candidates in fundraising - said it made her feel that the president himself would be walking her down the aisle.

"It makes you stand a little taller. It makes you carry your head a little higher. It makes you feel better about who you are," she said.

Last June, tears welled in Quinn's eyes as she described how New York's same-sex marriage law would change things for her and Catullo.

"I was never sure this bill would pass," she said. "Even this morning as I stood in my apartment getting ready, I was so nervous, because I had begun to plan the wedding in my mind. And I thought, 'What if it doesn't happen again,' the disappointment will be so tremendous."

"It's hard to describe the feeling of having the law of your state changed to say ... what you know in your heart is true, that you are a full member of the state, and that your family is as good as any other family," she said.

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