Lifestyle | gay marriage New York Weddings Surge Thanks to Gay Marriage Around 1 in 4 newlywed couples are gay By Kevin Spak Posted Aug 23, 2011 5:01 PM CDT Copied Barbara Tremblay and Stacey Minondo wait in line to get married at the Brooklyn City Clerk's office on July 24, 2011 in New York City, on the first day gay marriage was legal in the state. (Getty Images) Gay marriage is officially a hit in New York. Since it became legal on July 24, gay couples have accounted for roughly one out of every four new marriages in New York City, the New York Post guesstimates based on the sudden surge in applications—though the city says it can’t confirm that figure because it removed the gender requirement from its forms. Marriage applications have hovered around 4,200 for this period over the past three years, only to shoot up to 5,587 this year. “We've had to work extra hard to handle the increase,” a city clerk said. “But even as same-sex marriage starts to feel routine here, everyone seems profoundly happy to be here.” Read These Next 11 people hurt in a "brutal act of violence" in Michigan. We knew Letterman would pipe up about Colbert eventually. A parent's nightmare, in a white cardboard box. Now we know why Ghislaine Maxwell may have opened up to the DOJ. Report an error