By Aseem Chhabra for Rediff.com
Rediff.com’s Aseem Chhabra witnessed the reflection of the struggle for equal marriage rights for gay and lesbians in New York city on Sunday where over hundred same-sex couples took their vows. Among the couples was an Indian American couple too.
Navin Dargani and Navin Manglani have been together as a couple for six years and last month the two held a commitment ceremony in California with family and friends.
But on Sunday, July 24, the two young men, both residents of New York City, lined up before 9 am at the marriage bureau on 100 Worth Street in Manhattan to get their relationship officially approved by the New York State.
They were able to get a license, a judicial waiver for the 24 hour waiting period and get married the same day.
“It’s nice to know that fellow New Yorkers respect our relationship and can honor our love,” Dargani said as he stood in the line with a couple of hundred people ahead and behind him. The two wore similar clothes–shorts (it has been miserably hot in city for the past few days), shirts and bow ties.
“I feel like it is the social validation of our relationship,” Manglani said about the reason they chose to get married.
“That’s meant a lot to us for many years, but to have that kind of a nod from the society elevates it to a different level and goes to show it is no different than any other relationship.”
Thirty days after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the law legalising same sex marriage, hundreds of couples gathered at different marriage bureaus in parts of the state.
The largest gathering — all very orderly, with a festive mood, was in New York City, where 659 couples picked up licenses and 484 wed at the marriage bureaus in all of the city’s five boroughs. The largest numbers of marriages were conducted in Manhattan — 293 in total.
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