A Same-Sex City Hall Wedding

„There was no shortage of heroic figures during the debate over gay marriage in New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo, advocates in the State Assembly and Republicans in the State Senate who came to see the issue as a matter of civil rights—they all received their fair share of congratulations. One figure in the debate, however, remained in the background: Mayor Michael Bloomberg. As mayor, of course, he had no formal role in the proceedings. But he has a voice, and a platform, and he used both on behalf of marriage equality. He, along with Mr. Cuomo, surely helped turn the debate in the Republican-led State Senate in favor of gay marriage.

Now the mayor will practice what he has preached. On July 24, barring any last-minute complications, he will preside over the marriage of two of his aides, John Feinblatt, his top policy adviser, and Jonathan Mintz, commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs. The couple has two children and has been together for more than a decade.

Mr. Bloomberg is not one to flaunt his power as the city’s chief magistrate to perform weddings. He presided over his daughter’s ceremony and Rudolph Giuliani’s marriage to Judy Nathan several years ago. That’s it. By all indications, if he had a choice between carding a triple bogey and giving the government’s sanction to a couple in search of wedding bliss, he’d choose a triple bogey any day.”