Gay couples have started gathering in a Hudson Valley village where the mayor says he will begin performing marriage ceremonies for same-sex partners today.
New Paltz Mayor Jason West says he expects to perform about a dozen marriages this afternoon at a podium set up outside the village hall.
By midmorning, a few gay couples hoping to be wed were already milling outside the village offices.
Karen Summer and Jamie Rotnofsky drove up from Staten Island with their 12-year-old boy in the hopes of being added to the marriage list.
Summer says they're "knocking on the state's door" so authorities recognize them as a married couple.
One protester stood outside the village hall with a sign that read -- "It's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve."
The head of the state Conservative Party says West is "trashing the institution of marriage."
