NYC Launches Lottery for First Same-Sex Marriages

Whoever gets stuck with having to get married in the Staten Island office might just pass up the opportunity, though.

New York City is holding a lottery to determine which same-sex couples will get to tie the knot at municipal offices around town this Sunday, when gay marriage (finally) becomes legal in one of the union's most populous states. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said about 760 couples will be selected to join allegedly great matrimony this weekend, although he said he expects more than 2,000 couples to throw their names in the hat. Last month, the state of New York became the seventh and biggest U.S. jurisdiction yet to legalize gay marriage, following Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Washington, D.C., and Iowa.