Jay Ruiz

Last week we reported on the rally organized in Park Slope by a new community group, Safe Slope. We learned that Safe Slope is starting a Safe Walk program that will pair women walking alone at night with walking buddies, and a Safe Space program that will partner with local businesses to provide safe havens for anyone who feels unsafe on the street. Now, women in Park Slope and the surrounding areas have a third option: the newly-formed Brooklyn Bike Patrol will provide bike escorts to solo walkers.

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Last night, Park Slope and the surrounding areas responded to the recent string of sexual attacks with a good old-fashioned rally. Newly-formed local group Safe Slope organized the march, which in our estimate attracted about 300-400 people -- definitely more than the "Rape Cops" protest earlier this summer -- and took up two whole blocks of the Slope. Runnin' Scared arrived early to the starting place right next to the Prospect Avenue R train. A sizeable crowd had already assembled on the scene; we've never seen so many dogs, little kids, and politicians in one place.

Spotting a woman in an interesting t-shirt, we took a picture:

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Today we have an update on yesterday's news that Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez of District 38 will fund free self-defense classes for women, a response to the serial rapist/attempted rapist who is still at large in Brooklyn. The classes will be held in conjunction with the Center for Anti-Violence Education and with CrossFit718. Gonzalez's office has announced the dates and locations:

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Pizza enthusiast and humanitarian, Nick Greene

We are happy to announce that you'll be in new hands over the weekend, as, you've probably noticed, Rosie Gray has joined us on the weekday circuit over here. Welcome Nick Greene, who interned with us in the spring and has made various appearances since on our blog, including in his irreverent and hilarious science column, Death by Science. He masterfully memorialized Elizabeth Taylor's obit writer in the moments following Elizabeth Taylor's passing, compiled alternate culinary terms for a "sugar-coated Satan sandwich," and called the BBC out for roundabout BS. And he's a good friend reliable Twitter harasser of Mike Bloomberg. Consider him your Gatorade during those desperate hungover weekends (or maybe we're projecting -- whenever you want news!). Follow him on Twitter at @nickgreene.

Jeremy and Alex, who posed last week with the twin volunteer flower girls while getting their license, about to legally wed in church

Happy Same-Sex Sunday, 2.0!

Last Sunday, the first day same-sex marriage was legal, weddings were performed largely in civil ceremonies. Government marriage bureaus were opened specially across the city and state, and volunteer judges were on hand to grant waivers so that people (some who'd been waiting decades) could avoid the normal 24 hour waiting period. While some rabbis and ministers were on hand to perform ceremonies at borough halls, most were done by judges, and all happened rather quickly.

For those wanting to get married in a house of worship, the logistics of getting the license and planning a ceremony took a little longer. Last Tuesday night, civil rights pioneers Ruthie Berman and Connie Kurtz got married at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. Yesterday was the first time LGBT Christians could conceivably plan to get married during a regular Sunday service. And so, after the eleven weddings we attended last Sunday, plus taking in one we ran into on the street completely by accident during the week, we witnessed five more happy couples tie the knot yesterday in two different venues.

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Steven Thrasher

Michael Furey and Bienvenido Amagna, the first same-sex couple to wed in Brooklyn.

Today's the day! Same-sex marriage is officially legal in New York State, and the weddings are rolling along. The first couple married in New York City was Phyllis Siegal and Connie Kopelov, who exchanged wedding vows at 9 a.m. today at the City Clerk's office in Lower Manhattan. Our Zoe So just witnessed the first gay couple married in Queens, 33-year-old Shane Serkiz and Gregory Levine, 32, both teachers who live in Astoria. Intern Esther is live in Staten Island, where the first couple to get hitched were Bedila Sanchez and Lavern Rivera, together for 21 years. Esther and Zoe, plus my colleagues Steven Thrasher, Jen Doll, and Harry Siegel, are reporting on the first day of same-sex marriages across the boroughs, so follow them on Twitter for updates. Here's Steven's video of the first gay marriage in Brooklyn, of Michael Furey and Bienvenido Amagna:

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823 couples just won a different kind of New York Lottery

Well, 59 extra couples are going to be very happy this Sunday!

When New York City recently received a whopping 2,600 marriage license requests, with over half of those indicating they wanted to wed this Sunday (the first day of legal same-sex marriage) they started a lottery to determine who would be one of the 764 couples they could accomodate. The lottery was open from noon Tuesday until noon today, and 823 couples applied. This evening, the city said they're going to accomodate the extra 59 couples and wed each and every one, according to The Advocate.

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Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman shot in the head during the January rampage that killed six and injured 13, made her first public appearance in front of a crowd on Monday during a ceremony for her astronaut husband Mark Kelly. Giffords attended the event in a wheelchair, but stood to embrace Kelly, who received the Spaceflight Medal at the Space Center Houston. Kelly commanded the mission being honored, Endeavour's final launch, and has since retired to write a book with his wife. Giffords received a standing ovation when she arrived, and wore her hair "shorter than in previously published photos," ABC reports, along with "glasses, a beige scarf, a light shirt, jeans and sneakers." Giffords "smiled and waved to the crowd," but left early. [ABC News]

Recently released photo of Giffords

Mark Kelly, the astronaut husband of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, has announced his retirement, effective October 1, from both NASA and the Navy. Giffords, who was shot in the head in January in a Tucson supermarket parking lot, was recently released from TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, and will soon begin outpatient therapy there. Kelly and Giffords will also be working on a book together, described as "an intimate chronicle of everything from their careers and courtship to the Jan. 8 tragedy," which will be published by Scribner.

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Office of Gabrielle Giffords

The office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was the victim of a shooting in Tucson this winter that killed six and injured 13, has released new photos of the congresswoman on her Facebook page. Apart from her cropped haircut, she seems almost unchanged; there are few visible signs that she took a bullet in the head only five months ago. Giffords poses outside on the lawn of her Houston hospital. In one, she smiles directly into the camera, and in the other she's with her mother, Gloria Giffords.

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