Local Doctor Among First to Get East Hampton Marriage License

Monday morning marked a first for East Hampton, as it did across New York State.

With the Marriage Equality Act taking effect in New York on Sunday after passage last month, opened up its doors on Monday to same-sex marriage couples applying for . 

There was no line or any protesters - just a few couples looking to mark the historic day.

The first couple arrived at the 's office shortly after it opened at 9 a.m. The two women, who said they had been together 34 years, declined to comment as they picked up their license. 

Soon after, walked in to pick up an application for he and his partner of 31 years, Andrew Jacobyansky. They returned together less than an hour later to drop it off. They have to wait another 24 hours before marrying. 

"We wanted to wait until it was legal in New York State," Gibson said. "We said 'When you can do it here, we'll do it.'" 

The couple met on the first day of graduate school at the University of Chicago in 1980 and both went on to become investment bankers. 

Gibson later decided to go to medical school and he practices general medicine at the . Now retired, Jacobyanksy runs the front office. 

Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., one of Gibson's patients and friends, has offered to perform the ceremony. "He walked up to me at a gas station, on a Sunday, he took my hand ... and said he is so happy this is happening for us," Gibson said.

The couple hopes to marry this week. They don't want to wait. "Because of California, you just don't know," Gibson said.

They'll celebrate later with a reception around their anniversary on Sept. 22.

"The community has just embraced us," Gibson said. Many of the clerks at the town clerk's officer are his patients and seemed thrilled for the couple to be able to take this step.

Also on Monday morning, Bob Acker and Jim Mannix picked up a license and plan to marry in August. They were greeted when they came in by Mannix's cousin, East Hampton Town Business Manager Len Bernard. 

The couple met through friends in Sayville 39 years ago this September. They've lived full-time in Amagansett for 15 years. 

Acker said they are already feel married in the sense that they have been together for so long and have such a strong union. They said they've been lucky over the years to have the support and love of their family.  

They are tying the knot, Acker said, "to affirm our relationship and join the numbers to be counted."

Having met when they were 30 and 21, the couple said their connection and love has only grown over the years, despite not being able to marry in their homestate.