Same-Sex Couples Tie the Knot, Brookhaven Clerk Doles Out Licenses Sunday

The Brookhaven town clerk  Sunday for anxious couples wanting to apply for same-sex marriage licenses, one of few municipalities on Long Island that didn't make gay couples wait until Monday.

Thirty-seven couples streamed into town hall for licenses, including 13 who walked away married after getting the 24-hour waiting period waived. Two other same-sex couples got licenses and were married off-site.

"It's taken a long time, but we're happy we're here," said Linda Beinhauer, who married her partner, Terry Lehn, in an outdoor ceremony officiated by town clerk Patricia Eddington.

The Central Islip couple said they were hardly aware of the cameras and news reporters mingling with their family members and friends during their ceremony.

"We didn't really notice," Beinhauer said. "It's hard to believe that, but we're just kind of in a world of our own here."

RELATED: View photos and video from town hall Sunday.

When it came time for Eddington to ask if anyone objected to Beinhauer and Lehn's union, no one objected.

In contrast, when Judge Andrew Tarantino asked the same question at the wedding of West Babylon couple Melissa Itoh and Judeth Chiello later in the day, the room filled with laughter – but no one objected.

Eddington said last week she heard protestors were going to show up. On Sunday she said she was surprised but happy they did not.

Ridge couple Steven Hammer and Joe LoBosco, who have been together more than 21 years, married in Canada in 2003. They elected to make a formal affair of it in New York.

"We've been together so long that I thought it was just going through the motions, a crossing-the-T's-dotting-the-I's kind of thing," Hammer said. "But it's awesome. It's intense."

For Michael Soohoo and William Lauterbach of Port Jefferson, getting married on Sunday was a last-minute decision. They came to town hall to support friends who were getting married and they decided to do the same, reaffirming the commitment they made in April in a wedding ceremony in Connecticut.

"It feels exciting, historic," Soohoo said. "We're just so thankful for all of the senators who voted to support [the bill]. ... It feels great that the world is moving ahead."

Eddington and a colleague chipped in to buy cake and champagne for the newlyweds, and members of the Empire State Pride Agenda Foundation handed out "just married" sashes for them to wear.

Joanna Solmonsohn, the Long Island program organizer for the Empire State Pride Agenda Foundation, called the day "momentous and joyous," but said more work remains ahead when it comes to the rights of the GLBT community.

While New York lawmakers approved the Marriage Equality Act with a 33-29 vote in the New York state Senate on June 24, the federal government has not yet formally recognized same sex marriages.

"We hope the passage of marriage equality in New York will keep the momentum going around the country," Solmonsohn said, "so more states will allow couples to get married and in addition that the federal government will begin to recognize our marriages as well."

Editor's Note: This story has been updated from a previous version, based on new information from the Town Clerk's office, which said 11 couples were married at Town Hall on Sunday.