Deputy mayor, trustee step in to marry gays
By Jesse J. Smith , Freeman staff


NEW PALTZ - For the first time since Mayor Jason West was barred from performing same-sex weddings, village officials here have presided over gay nuptials.

Deputy Mayor Rebecca Rotzler and village Trustee Julia Walsh, recently appointed "marriage officers" by the Village Board, married four same-sex couples Thursday evening in a ceremony sponsored by the marriage rights group New Paltz Equality Initiative.

The ceremony was at the LeFevre House, a bed-and-breakfast on Southside Avenue that serves as the New Paltz Equality Initiative's headquarters and has hosted dozens of same-sex weddings since March.


Another 20 same-sex couples are to wed at noon today at the LeFevre House,