Earlier this week, the city announced that so many couples had expressed interest in getting married this Sunday the first day that gay marriage is legal in the state of New York that they would have to hold a lottery. Interested couples had until noon today to register, and now, Marc LaVorgna, deputy press secretary to Mayor Bloomberg, tells us that a total of 823 couples did so. That’s 59 more than the 764 slots that the city had planned on making available. The clerk’s office in each borough has its own limit, and while all couples who registered for the outer boroughs were able to secure a spot, 533 couples registered for the 400 spots at the Manhattan clerk’s office.
But good news! In the spirit of, you know, happiness and love and such, the city has decided to expand the number of couples that the Manhattan office can handle to 459, and staffers will stay as late as necessary to process them all. The remaining 74 Manhattanite couples will be dispersed to clerk’s offices throughout the other boroughs. Kind of annoying for those 74 couples? Sure. But still — everyone who wants to get married on Sunday can get married, as long as some of them are willing to go out of their way a bit. That’s a great thing. (For the record, couples registering for the lottery didn’t have to disclose their genders, so there’s no data on how many of the couples are straight. Kind of a moot point now, anyway.)
Earlier: Straight People: Please Don’t Get Married on July 24
