Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

Same-Sex Marriages in NYC; Massacre in Norway; Amy Winehouse Dead at 27

Aired July 24, 2011 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

Same-sex couples are lining up in New York City right now. This is the day they have been waiting for for years. This is the day they can legally get married. The ceremonies start in a half hour in the city clerk offices around the city and our cameras are there.

Also, an autopsy is planned soon for singer Amy Winehouse. A tragic story of a 27-year-old soulful Grammy-winning talent found dead in her London apartment.

Also, we've got another new deadline set for the debt talks. House Speaker John Boehner says it's time to get this done, and it needs to be done in a manner of hours before the Asian markets open.

Hello to you all. Glad you could spend part of your Sunday here with us. I'm T.J. Holmes.

At the top of the hour here, we're waiting to see what happens at the bottom of the hour. In New York, the law allowing same-sex marriage in the state was passed a month ago, you may remember. But today is the day when couples are actually allowed to apply for a marriage license. Well, some lucky couples are getting to waive the standard 24-hour waiting period so they'll be able to get married right away.

Some of those who literally won that lottery are starting to collect at city clerk's offices around the city now. And at the bottom of the hour, those ceremonies are expected to start. Our Susan Candiotti joins me now from the main in Manhattan.

Those ceremonies are starting. What is it like around the clerk's office this morning?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, well, there is no missing the nervous energy and the excitement that I think any couple that's about to get married is facing, and you're having that today.

And beyond that, of course, T.J., this is a day arguably that many gay rights activist have been waiting for for a lifetime.

Behind me, you can see the couples lining up. They have been here for a few hours, seeing a lot of tuxedos. Some women in wedding gowns as well. There are 800 couples that are getting married here, same sex couples here in New York City. And more than half of them here at city hall.

I spent some time yesterday with the couple getting some last minute things done, and noticing a lot of jitters. Here they are.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): On the verge of fulfilling a lifelong dream, Freddy Zambrano and Marcos Chaljub are way beyond excited.

(on camera): Would you say you have butterflies in your stomach right now?

FREDDY ZAMBRANO, MARRYING SAME-SEX PARTNER: Butterflies -- more like dragon flies in my stomach.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Becoming among the first same-sex couples to marry in New York, the significance hasn't escaped them, or what they hope to proudly tell their children one day.

ZAMBRANO: I guess what will tell them when we were young, you know, there was no such thing as us being able to get married. And we were part of that day, we were part of like the people who there when it did happen in New York at least.

CANDIOTTI: They planned on saving the e-mail that told them they won a city hall lottery, allowing them to marry this morning.

ZAMBRANO: And as soon as I read this line, congratulations from the Queens --

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Did you scream?

ZAMBRANO: Did I scream? Maybe you guys could hear me at the other end of the city.

MARCOS CHALJUB, MARRYING SAME-SEX PARTNER: And I'm jumping in the shower almost breaking my neck.

CANDIOTTI: I think that falls under TMI.

(voice-over): They have been together five years. Freddy works for an insurance company. Marcos, a law firm. Together, they supported the same-sex marriage movement.

CHALJUB: I have people in my life where they are not totally OK with it, but they accept it. And just the fact that they respect us because of that, it's really the most that I can ask for.

CANDIOTTI: Before the ceremony, lots to do.

Marcos picks up wild flower bouquets for their brides maids, and champagne for a family brunch after the ceremony -- last-minute errand for their big day.

They have already been wearing their rings for five years. CHALJUB: These have been five years we have had these, and we're just going to polish them up and exchange them again because we weren't able to do so. It's going to be an overflow of emotions that -- it's going to be uncontrollable emotions for me, at least, you know?

ZAMBRANO: I can say the same thing. I know that just knowing that, you know, I am going to have Marcos by my side for the rest of my life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And we have learned that Freddy and Marcos will be the fourth couple to be married this morning. So, T.J., we'll get to see that happen in half an hour.

HOLMES: Yes. We will be checking in with you at the bottom of the hour, Susan Candiotti. Thank you so much for that.

Really, a big day that a lot of people in New York and also around the nation. Eyes were on New York right now. Now, same-sex marriage in New York came after long battle in the state legislature. The New York City council speaker, Christine Quinn, fought to get it passed. She is one of the nation's most prominent openly gay officials.

This morning I asked her about this day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE QUINN, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL SPEAKER: New York is the place the entire the world looks to. And it's the place where the LGBT civil rights movement was really born, and to have this state and this city, which is -- I don't meant to sound arrogant, but the center of the world do this, I mean, all eyes are upon it. And I believe it is going to help propel this movement forward faster than any of the other states have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And as we mentioned, coming up at the bottom of the hour, those marriage ceremonies are set to start at the Manhattan clerk's office. You're invited.

Cameras will be there. Again, this is a history-making day. New York, the state -- the largest state in the Union to approve same-sex marriages, those marriages start today at the bottom of the hour. Our coverage will continue.

But it's six minutes past the hour now. I want to turn to Norway where the healing is under way after Friday's massacre. A memorial service just wrapped up a short time ago in the capital of Oslo. People there are remembering the victims of this two attacks.

The death toll now at 93. Police say the suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, has confessed to the bombing up a government building in Oslo and the shootings at Utoya Island where a youth camp was being held. Breivik says he acted alone. He'll be in court for the first time tomorrow. And they are still looking for bodies both in Oslo and on the island. At least four people are still missing from that youth camp. Police believe there could be more bodies inside the badly buildings in the capital as well.

Also, a short time ago, police carried out what they are calling, quote, "an operation" in the eastern part of Oslo. They say it's part of their investigation into these attacks.

And one other thing the police are taking a closer look at is this. This is an online manifesto published on the day of attacks. It's supposedly from the suspect. It has pictures of him. He's wearing some kind of uniform.

And this thing, this manifesto, is 1,500 pages long. A lot to go through.

Our Diana Magnay has been on this story for us. And she has been going through that manifesto.

So, some scary stuff in there, Diana.

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, T.J. It really maps out his vision of a Europe without Muslims, without multiculturalism -- those are two core sort of parts of his far-right thinking.

He has an action plan, really, for how this goal can be achieved by 2083. That's the year when he predicts the European civil war will be over. European leaders will be deposed before that sort of groups will be formed to try and achieve this. This is sort of an action plan of how he wants to eradicate Europe of Muslims. It's very far right ideology.

He also talks a lot about, for example, the sexual practices of his own family and friends, very conservative thinking on those fronts, and a lot about his background. You see new pictures of him.

You hear about how he plans to carry out the attacks. Why, for instance, he had got himself a farm, so that he could buy fertilizer and how to go through the process of bomb-making without being detected.

And I think possibly the most chilling thing that I've read in that manifesto, T.J., is his last entry. And let me just read to you. He says, "I believe this will be my last entry. It is now Friday, July the 22nd, 12:51. And less then three hours later, he detonated the first blast in the center of Oslo -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Diana Magnay for us again in Norway -- Diana we appreciate you so much this weekend. Thank you.

We're nine minutes past the hour now.

And an autopsy for singer Amy Winehouse could come as soon as today. The body of the Grammy Award-winning singer was found yesterday in her London apartment, and the song you may recognize most from her may prove prophetic.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HOLMES: Winehouse was only 27 years old. Now, this is the song that really propels her to super stardom, at least in the U.S., the song "Rehab," talking about not wanting to go to rehab, and apparently a lot of people are speculating now that she may have lost her battle -- her well-documented battle with substance abuse.

I want to head outside the singer's apartment now in London. CNN's Nina Dos Santos is there for us.

Nina, what else might we be learning about this case?

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., as you can see, the police are standing guard outside Amy Winehouse's town house in north London. This is the very property where at 5:05 p.m., London time, yesterday, they discovered her body.

So far, the police are treating this death as unexplained. They're not adding further comment to that. It's safe to say that they have now confirmed, T.J., that they will be performing the autopsy on her body tomorrow. We won't know until then exactly what killed this woman tragically just at 27 years old.

HOLMES: All right. Nina Dos Santos, again, outside the apartment of Amy Winehouse, dead at the age of 27 -- we appreciate you this morning.

And to our viewers, Dr. Drew Pinsky on our sister network HLN is looking into Amy Winehouse's sudden death and how and why it happened. That's tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Well, let's turn back to politics here in this country. And more meetings of raising the debt ceiling have brought a similar result, nothing. The congressional leaders met with President Obama yesterday, then got another meeting together, but without the president. That was last night.

Now, on the table is a Republican plan to raise the debt ceiling for the rest of this year, then handle -- next year, handle the rest of it later.

But Democrats and the president say they want any deal to carry through 2012.

House Speaker John Boehner says a deal needs to be finalized actually by tomorrow in order to get it voted on in time.

Now, the battle over the debt ceiling is topic number one this morning. It's coming up on "STATE OF THE UNION," with Candy Crowley. Part of her line up, you see in there, Dianne Feinstein, also Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, also Representative Tom Price, and the man who has been at the center of a lot of these debate talks, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

We'll talk to Candy here in just a bit -- get a preview of her show.

Well, a bit of relief from the massive heat wave is on the way, but not for everybody. We'll check in with Reynolds Wolf here in just a moment.

Also, this -- three days after NFL team owners approved a new labor agreement, still no word on whether the players are onboard. I talked to one player representative on when he's ready to sign on that dotted line.

Also, the day has arrived -- the day has arrived finally for many same sex couples in New York. They are getting married today. You are looking at a live picture where these couples have been lining up for the past couple of hours getting ready for the first same-sex marriage ceremonies to take place in the city clerk's office. This is what you're seeing here, the city clerk's office.

We'll be keeping our eye on this. Again, it's happening at the bottom of the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's a quarter past the hour on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

Reynolds Wolf is here to give us the words we have been waiting to hear.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Abracadabra.

HOLMES: OK.

WOLF: The heat is going away. How about that? For parts of the Northeast.

HOLMES: There it is.

WOLF: That does work for you?

HOLMES: That works, my man.

WOLF: There we go. That's what a lot of people are going to be doing and that's fine, the temperatures cool down.

It's been very tough on a lot of people. Obviously, with this warm temperatures, we've kind got a lot of side affects. Well, one, we had power outages. Some 80,000 people without power. I can tell you that there are still that 7,000 that are without it as we speak. But I know crews are working very hard to restore it.

Other evidence of the extreme heat has been -- well, on the pavement, especially Amherst, New York, where I we have video to share with you. Video shows that some of the roads have been buckling due to the extreme heat. So, certainly, some rough times there. But as I mentioned, we do have some relief on the way, and here is how it's going to arrive. Let's go back to the computers. As we do so, we've got this huge dome of high pressure over the eastern third of the country that's been providing a great deal of heat. We do expect that ridge to break down actually, a little bit to the south and then to the southeast, eventually allowing some frontal boundaries to sweep through the Northeast. The result will be some cooler air.

Now, that doesn't mean that we're going to be in the 60s. It means we're going to be cooling into the 90s and some places into the 80s. Certainly, still very warm but far better than the oppressive heat we've had over the last couple days. For those of you in the central plains, southern plains and also parts of the Midwest, the heat is still going to be locked in.

We've got 95 for you today in Kansas City, 104 in Dallas, 94 in Memphis, 87 in New Orleans, 90 in Denver. Back out west, we got 97 in Salt Lake City, 71 in Los Angeles, 67 in San Francisco and 90 in Chicago.

Speaking of Chicago, although it's going to be hot, we got plenty of rain yesterday. And we got some video to share with you there. We had people that had to be rescued from their cars by boats due to the seven inches of rainfall they had just yesterday, and we do have more rain on the horizon. In fact, that rain is falling as we speak in Chicago.

Let's go back to the weather, and as we do, and you will see, plain and simple, we got some fairly strong cells developing just the west of Chicago, some in downtown Chicago, not far from the Dan Ryan Expressway.

Keep the umbrellas handy. It's going to be a ready for you. Possibly delays, too, with all your major airports.

All right. Guy, that's delays. Let's pitch it over to you at the couch.

HOLMES: All right. Reynie, appreciate you as always. Talk to you again here shortly.

WOLF: Thank you.

HOLMES: And it's 18 minutes past the hour now. I'm joined by a good friend, from HLN Sports, Joe Carter.

Good to have as always. Now, first, I want to tell our viewers, that many of you go to events and, oftentimes, they'll say a prayer before the event. He's got a prayer you got to hear where a guy actually thanked God for his hot wife. That's second. We'll get to that next. You want to stick around for it. I promise you want to see this.

But, first, what's the latest in the NFL now? We're talking yesterday about when other players going to sign off. Where are we now? JOE CARTER, HLN SPORTS: Well, you got to give credit where credit is due. And, yes, the players had big progress made yesterday. We could actually see these teams go back to work as early as this Wednesday. Of course, if all goes to plan.

Now, the players association told its 32 team reps yesterday to be ready to vote on a new labor deal tomorrow. Now, if they agree on this new deal, team facilities, like I said, will open up on Wednesday. And the lockout which began on March 12th would end with training camps starting on Saturday -- four-plus months we have been going through this thing.

Now, if this is truly a done deal in the next few day, it appears the entire season and pre-season will be intact, of course, minus that pro football hall of fame, given it's already been cancelled. But until votes are actually in, nobody is going to breath easy in this thing, you know? It's like, we got to get it finalized and it looks we're well on our way.

HOLMES: But still, we're right there. This is going to happen. We know it is, at some point, but they put us through all of this and it's almost over.

Now, set this thing up for me. You all set the options. When I go these stories you like this morning. I saw this one and jumped on it.

Set this up for us.

CARTER: All right. So, the NASCAR race last night, a pastor gave the most entertaining pregame prayer -- prerace prayer I should say. I've never seen, listen to him give props to his wife. This is great.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE NELMS, PASTOR: Thank you for Sunoco racing fuel, and Goodyear tires and great performance and power to the track. Lord, I want to thank you for my smokin' hot wife tonight, Lisa. My two children, Ely and Emma. Or as we like to call 'em, the little "Es."

Lord, I pray you bless the drivers and crews tonight. May they put a performance worthy of this great the track, in Jesus name, boggityu, boggit, boggity, amen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

CARTER: Like I said, the most entertaining prayer I have ever seen. Joe Nelms is his name. He's a pastor in Tennessee. And he had them all cracking up. It's a serious moment. But you can see the smiles on their faces. And I imagine he's going to be invited back to a few more races.

HOLMES: This was paying respect to the Ricky Bobby. CARTER: "Talladega Nights."

HOLMES: "Talladega Nights."

CARTER: "Talladega Nights."

HOLMES: Oh, my goodness. That was great.

CARTER: Smokin' hot wife.

HOLMES: The smokin' hot wife. That was good stuff.

Good to see you as always. Thank you for that one. Thanks so much.

Twenty minutes past the hour now.

Billions of dollars in gold, rubies and other precious gemstones found inside vaults in one r remote temple in India. This is not an "Indiana Jones" movie, though. Who should benefit from the riches? That is next.

Stay with me on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

But here we go, look at this. I told you, we're only about 10 minutes away now. This is New York. This is in Manhattan where the first same-sex marriages to be performed at ceremonies at the clerks offices around the city are set to take place again just 10 minutes from now.

A lot of these couples, hundreds of them, have been lining up for the last several hours for this day, one they have been waiting on for quite sometime. We'll have live coverage from there.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Twenty-four minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

Nadia Bilchik joining me once again for the "Morning Passport."

And Nadia has found some $20 billion.

Now, where did you find this?

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Exactly, in the southern Indian states of Kerala. You can see, I'm wearing some of it. I wish.

Can you imagine if this was 20-karat gold?

In Kerala state, in this temple in Kerala, about $20 billion to $23 billion of treasure has been uncovered, and it all started because a lawyer, who is a devotee of the temple didn't like the way it was being run, and he petitioned the constitutional court.

Anyway, one thing led to another and they started excavating the vaults, and found this enormous amount of the most unbelievable treasure.

HOLMES: They had no idea it was there?

BILCHIK: They no idea it was there. It has been there for hundreds and hundreds of years. They found -- you can see some of the gold that is on the elephant there, but they literally found a statue of Lord Vishnu, almost life-sized statue, with emeralds and diamonds worth hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. And this is on the hooded snake.

This is the kind of thing that they found. Can you imagine? So, it's not only of religious significance, but of huge and enormous value.

We're also going to take a look at some of other treasures that were found in other Indian temples. Beautiful feet and hands all incrusted with gold and diamonds. And again the value is just extraordinary.

And it's ironic because Indians are great lovers of gold. They start their girls on gold earrings from a very early age. And if you get married, it's also about the gold.

So, it's ironic that a country that imports hundreds of millions of tons of gold actually has all this gold underneath in stockpiles.

HOLMES: OK. Before we go, I have to ask you, they didn't know it was there, and who does it belong to now?

BILCHIK: Well, this is the development in the story. It belongs to the Kerala temple. That's number one. But number two, the other development, is the gentleman I told you about earlier, mysteriously died this week.

HOLMES: Mysteriously. Now, what does that mean?

BILCHIK: We don't know. Some people are saying was it a curse? Should he not have initiated the excavation of the vaults? So, that's the interesting development in the history.

But also, a great concern is people all around India are now looking at the smaller temples, and wondering if there's going to be treasure there. And one of the companies in India that is an exploratory company, suddenly, their shares has gone up. So, maybe we should also be finding our gold in India,

HOLMES: In India. All right. Nadia Bilchik, always interesting with the "Morning Passport" -- thank you once again. We'll be checking -- you can always check in with Nadia here on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY.

Well, we're getting close to the bottom of the hour. We're just about three minutes away from weddings, a lot of weddings.

This is the scene outside of one of the clerk's office in New York City. This is Manhattan, where same-sex couples have been lining up for the past several hours. Why? Because today is the first day that same-sex marriage ceremonies can go forward in the state of New York.

We are taking you to the first ceremonies live, coming up.

Also, coming up this morning, it's been a controversy maybe you're seeing this week over conversion therapy and homosexuals. Christian-based counseling now is under fire even from people within the evangelical community. That is in our "Faces of Faith."

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Now we are at the bottom of the hour on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Welcome back, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes. Some of the stories making headlines right now:

Do you remember the iconic World Trade Center cross? Those two intersecting beams that held firm after the towers collapsed; well they were moved yesterday to their new home, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in Manhattan.

Also Britain's five-time Grammy Award winning singer, Amy Winehouse has died. She was just 27 years old. Found dead yesterday in her London apartment. Winehouse jumped into the spotlight with her breakout first album "Back to Black." That featured that song you just, "Rehab". Her battles with drugs and alcohol were well documented and we have now just confirmed that an autopsy will be done tomorrow.

Also retired Army General John Shalikashvili has died. His executive assistant tells us the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff died from complications after a stroke. He was 75 years old.

Also here we are at the bottom of the hour. We can now give you a live look inside the clerk's office in New York City. Now, it might not look like much, but for a lot of people history is being made in that room today. That is where a number of same-sex couples will get married.

Today is the first day that same-sex marriage is legal and a number of ceremonies are going forward, hundreds of them today. Now, there was a 24-hour waiting period after you get your marriage license before you can get married, but that is being waived for a number of lucky couples who literally won a marriage lottery to be the first in line in Manhattan.

In Manhattan is where we find our Susan Candiotti. Susan it's the bottom of the hour. These marriages I assume, are about to get under way? Oh, I am told we just lost our Susan Candiotti. She has been reporting for us outside of the clerk's office. Now it's happening in several five different clerk's offices around the city. But I just mentioned that lottery, because so many people wanted to get married on this first day of the city. Actually -- that hey, put your names in and we draw all them out essentially and if win the lottery you can get married on this day.

Our Susan Candiotti is back with me now; have we gotten words, are these ceremonies underway?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No not yet and you'll have to be my eyes and ears on that.

HOLMES: Ok.

CANDIOTTI: The city has made arrangements to have a pool camera in there so that it's more organized as the couples begin to take their -- exchange their wedding vows. And T.J., they have been lining up for hours here outside the city clerk's office in New York where more than half of the more than 800 same-sex couples will be married in New York City.

So it's an exciting time, a lot of jitters. We're seeing some couples in wedding gowns and others who are more casually attired. And we also see a lot of people in tuxedos. One floral shop came down here and is handing out wild flowers, fresh wild flowers to all the couples standing in line with their families.

And as we indicated, you know the first couple was married actually just after midnight in Niagara Falls. So we already have one officially on the books that we know of.

It's -- it's an exciting time certainly for human rights activists, for gay rights activist who have been fighting for this in New York State for many, many years.

As you know, New York is now one of six states to allow same-sex marriages. And in fact we have a couple that's joining us now. Their names are Crystal Gonzalez and Norma Virola. You've waited for this well, for a long time and you certainly have been together for what, four years now.

NORMA VIROLA, GETTING MARRIED TODAY: Yes.

CRYSTAL GONZALEZ, GETTING MARRIED TODAY: Yes.

CANDIOTTI: Tell me some of the emotions you're going through right now?

VIROLA: I can't even explain it. It's like my whole stomach is -- I'm so nervous, I'm excited, I just want to jump up and scream. I'm just happy.

CANDIOTTI: Now, you both were involved in protests, in rallies and marches from here to the state capital in Albany. Why did you become so actively involved in this?

GONZALEZ: Because we want us to have rights and be equal like everybody else.

CANDIOTTI: And there are still a lot of people who disagree with --

HOLMES: Well, it looks like we lost our Susan Candiotti again. We apologize with that signal just going down.

But you get the idea of what is happening in New York right now. And again, it's -- it's kind of strange to be seeing this room and you certainly think not much to this room, it doesn't look like a place where a beautiful ceremony would take place, it might not be the ideal place necessarily for a wedding when you think about a wedding. But for many of the couples, this is ideal, and it doesn't matter where it happens.

A lot of them have been fighting for this and waiting for this day for a long time. But this is at the city clerk's office is what you're seeing but these weddings are going to get under way here at any moment. We're keeping a close eye on that.

35 minutes past the hour now.

After the break, there are some controversy that you may have seen lately in the news about conversion therapy and homosexuals. Christian-based counseling is coming under fire even from people within the Evangelical community. That is today's "Faces of Faith" and that is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 39 minutes past the hour.

As we've been telling you this morning, it's a day of celebration for many same-sex couples in New York.

But the news from the campaign trail has not been so positive for many in the gay community because they got the news that a clinic run by Michele Bachmann's husband Marcus has faced some accusations that it encourages gay and lesbians to patients to change their sexual orientation. A practice that it's frowned upon by many in the mental field. It's called conversion therapy.

Joining me now to talk about this practice is Warren Throckmorton. He's an authority on Christian counseling and an associate professor of psychology at Grove City College in Pennsylvania.

Sir, I appreciate you being here. Again, this kind of got some attention on the campaign trail here in the past couple of weeks, but is this a wide-spread practice? Do a lot of -- can you find a lot of places that offer this conversion therapy?

WARREN THROCKMORTON, EXPERT ON CHRISTIAN COUNSELING: Well, it's increasingly less frequent, that's for sure. I think, even the Evangelical community has been quietly moving away from the practice, and that would be the -- the area of the community that would be most likely -- who are even most likely to see it, but even there it's falling into some disfavor.

HOLMES: You say they are kind of moving away from it but still it's out there in some places now. What exactly does it involve?

THROCKMORTON: Well, that's a great question. Let me answer it this way. Conversion therapy is -- has historically been kind of pejorative term for the idea of changing sexual orientation. Not many who actually practice it would -- would call it that.

The current umbrella term is sexual orientation change efforts. And there's just a whole variety of things that people have tried to do, anywhere from praying for strength or a Bible reading for encouragement, support groups to encourage them to become more masculine, or feminine depending on their gender, identity, one of the more popular versions in Evangelical circles is called the operative therapy and that involves -- or is based on a particular view of how homosexuality is caused, and that view is that people are gays because they had not bonded well with their same sex parents.

So if that's the case then the therapy is designed to try to help them bond well with other people of the same sex with a theory that if they do that they'll identify more with their gender and then find the opposite sex attractive.

HOLMES: Now, I can tell you the American Psychological Association actually had a resolution condemning this type of treatment. As you're saying, saying mental health professionals should avoid telling clients that they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments.

Is that pretty much the attitude of the mental health community out there, if you will, is that, folks, this is hocus-pocus this doesn't work.

THROCKMORTON: That's right and I would say that's increasingly true in the Evangelical world as well. But for sure that's in true in the mental health community.

HOLMES: Now, a part of this sir, and a reason maybe it's out there is -- is that many Christians, many Christian homosexuals have this conflict, and even themselves may think that something is wrong with them.

Is that a part of the reason that this type of therapy was I guess was born in the first place?

THROCKMORTON: Well, right. That conflict is very real for people who believe that the Bible teaches against homosexuality, but they feel attracted to the same-sex themselves and so they -- they are left with the conflict. And reparative therapy == conversion therapy was an effort of the profession to try to address that, although the roots of it go back beyond the Christian struggle, I think. But in recent days, since most practitioners are themselves, religious in one way or another, I think that's where you see the emphasis on it, and we saw it in the Bachmann clinic where people are coming in for some kind of conflict and they are looking for answers that are consistent with their faith.

HOLMES: All right.

Again, Warren Throckmorton, it is a -- it is a conversation that a lot of people have been having because it has been in the news lately, but we appreciate you being here and we appreciate your expertise in helping us through some of this. Thank you so much sir. You enjoy the rest of your day.

THROCKMORTON: My pleasure thank you.

HOLMES: Now, you can share your comments and read more about this conversion therapy as it is called by some at CNN.com\belief.

Now, like 44 minutes past the hour now. Today is a day people have -- they say they have been waiting for literally their entire lives. That's a live picture inside the clerk's office in New York City where the first same-sex marriage ceremonies are set to take place at any moment.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We are just about 12 minutes until the top of the hour, and that's 12 minutes away from Candy Crowley. You don't have to wait that long.

Say hello right now -- wow, that was fancy, that was new; got nice graphics and everything for you. Good morning Candy. How are you doing?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": What can I say? What can I say? You know, it's no cheap operation here with graphics and everything.

HOLMES: Clearly not. And you have a number of important guests this morning, but none more important than Mr. Timothy Geithner himself. That is certainly the one I am most interested in.

CROWLEY: Well, let me give you a little preview of Timothy Geithner. You know, I think, one of the things we came away from yesterday was that Friday the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, had walked away and said, "I'm not going to negotiate with the White House anymore. It's going to be up to Capitol Hill, right? That's where we are.

So I asked Timothy Geithner about the White House role in this plan. I want you to take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TIMOTHY GEITHNER, U.S. SECRETARY OF TREASURY: Over the course of yesterday, the President was in touch with all the leaders. They met together over the course of the day and they were talking, you know --

CROWLEY: Beyond that early morning meeting?

GEITHNER: -- throughout the day. Yes. They were talking now.

CROWLEY: So the president is still actively involved in these negotiations?

GEITHNER: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know what the leaders know --

CROWLEY: With the Speaker?

GEITHNER: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: So there you go. The negotiations with the White House, according to the White House, according to Treasury Secretary Geithner, those negotiations are still going on. I can tell you also, in this interview, which we taped about 15 or 20 minutes ago, that in fact he didn't rule out a big debt deal yet, so I would say the whole thing is still in flux.

HOLMES: Ok. And we keep, Candy, talking about this deadline of August 2nd, but there's another deadline floating around that expires here in a few hours. They're essentially saying you need to come out and show that you're on the right track before Asian markets even open. And also they said you need a deal -- you have to have it in place in time to let them vote on it up on Capitol Hill. So we might not have as much time as we think.

CROWLEY: Yes. I mean you know, obviously, there's seven or eight nine days for the first deadline, but it was Geithner himself who in that meeting yesterday with congressmen and leaders up on Capitol Hill said, listen, you know the Asian markets, you don't know how they're going to respond. They could respond badly to the idea that Speaker Boehner and the President had broke off conversations about a debt deal.

I asked him about that, like what would the Asian markets do? And we expect them to, like East Coast time they open around -- some of them -- around 9:00 tonight. But today Geithner said well, you just don't know what the markets are going to do and how they're going to react.

As for that Monday deadline, that's just sort of the time it takes to write something up. I mean to have a deal is one thing, to write it up in legislation, to let it come cook on Capitol Hill and go through the process, they really believe that they need to have something on Monday.

And the Speaker himself has said he wants something before those Asian markets open. We will see. I can also tell you the Treasury Secretary says that the plan we're now hearing about from Boehner, that two-tiered plan will raise the debt ceiling to 2011, set up a commission then we'll talk about 2012, no go at the White House.

HOLMES: Oh, ok -- Candy we will see you here --

CROWLEY: Sorry.

HOLMES: Yes. We'll see you here in just a few minutes. Again, Candy Crowley, about nine minutes, 25 seconds away; keep it here for "STATE OF THE UNION", 9:00 Eastern Time, 6:00 Pacific.

Well, he is a two-time super bowl winning quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But this weekend maybe his biggest victory. Well, it should be, he got married. Take a look at that picture. Coming up, we'll tell you about Big Ben's big day.

Also, another big day for a lot of couples in New York City; this is just a door, but it's an important door for literally hundreds of couples in New York, same-sex couples. Today is the first day they can get married legally in the state. And they will be walking through that door into a room, a little chapel in the clerk's office to make it official today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. We're getting close to the top of the hour, and a lot of same-sex couples are getting close to their vows. Today, of course, is the first day that same-sex couples can get married legally in the state of New York. And you're looking at a live picture inside one of the clerk's offices, this one in Manhattan where literally hundreds of couples have lined up to be a part of this day in history.

We'll be monitoring these for you. But the first ceremonies expected to take place there at any moment.

Let me give you a look at some other stories that making news across the country including out in Los Angeles, where police are saying this is not the guy. They're dropping charges against him. This is Giovanni Ramirez (ph), he was the first suspect arrested in the beating of Brian Stow. Stow is the San Francisco Giants' fan who was brutally attacked after a game at Dodgers Stadium.

The police have now arrested two other men in connection with the beating. Both men are expected to be arraigned tomorrow on felony charges of mayhem and assault.

Also police in Kent, Washington, are trying to figure out what led to a shooting yesterday afternoon at a local car show. 11 people were hurt here. One witness telling CNN affiliate KOMO, the argument escalated when someone criticized somebody else's car paint job.

Also in suburban Pittsburgh, check this out, wedding bells for Steelers quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger yesterday. The two-time Superbowl champ -- his career has been blemished by some off-the-field issues -- but no issues yesterday. Congratulations to the man they call Big Ben.

Also "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley coming your way at the top of the hour, in just a moment.

A quick break, and we're going to be right back.

Excuse me, whoa, whoa, whoa. Forgive me I'm not -- I am trying to go somewhere, but we cannot go anywhere just yet. We have news to tell you about, including what's happening in Norway.

We have been telling you about this massacre that happened there. Now 93 people dead and crime scene investigators are on the scene now of Friday's home-grown terror attacks. Despite a confession from the primary suspect that he acted alone, authorities say they haven't yet reached that conclusion themselves.

Also, an autopsy is being planned for tomorrow now, following the death of British singer, Amy Winehouse. The body of the 27-year-old Grammy-winning singer was found yesterday in her London apartment.

And also tomorrow might be the day the NFL players vote on the labor agreement approved by team owners earlier this week. The work stoppage has already canceled the ceremonial Hall of Fame pre-season game that was slated next month in Canton Ohio.

Also -- and one more note from the sports world, Tiger Woods' caddy, Steve Williams, said he might write a book. In his recent departure from Woods could be a quote, "interesting chapter". Williams claims he never had a confidentiality clause between himself and Tiger Woods.

We're going to turn to weather here in a moment. I am keeping an eye on this picture in New York. Forgive me, folks, for looking off to the side here because this is what we're watching in New York City right now. This is, of course, a historic day, and a very important day for a lot of same-sex couples in that state, meaning couples who have been together for quite some time.

I can only -- I don't know who we are looking at but I can only assume what we are looking at. Many couples literally have been waiting a lifetime for this day. This is the first day that same-sex couples can get married in the state of New York. Many of these couples won a lottery; so many wanted to get married today that they had to have them do a lottery.

Apparently these two -- I'm told now the names -- Phyllis and Connie. It looks like they're the first -- at least in this clerk's office to be able to get married.

I am going to go ahead and listen in here for a second. I believe we might have some sound in that room, but you see the reporters gathered. This is at the clerk's office. This is the first ceremony to take place at this clerk's office in New York. So let me listen in to this.

Well, apparently clearly, we can't hear that well. They have a microphone there but you can only guess these two maybe have been together for quite some time and have been waiting for this moment. Yes, there will be opponents; yes there are people who are protesting today. Yes. But for these two on this day in this moment, they are having their moment.

Let me listen in again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are gathered here today in the presence of family and friends to join together this couple in the bonds of matrimony. Today, Phyllis and Connie come together to pledge to live the rest of their lives as one.

These are two independent people who are joining together because they can see and they can feel how much better their lives will be. They wish to establish a union, which is greater than the sum of its parts. And we are grateful that they are allowing us to share this truly momentous ceremony for them as well as for all of us.

Phyllis and Connie as you now pledge your vows to each other as many before you have done to the earliest of days, we ask if there is anyone here that has any reason to object to this marriage to speak now or forever hold their peace.

Phyllis, will you have Connie to be your spouse and live together with her in the institution of matrimony?

HOLMES: Well, folks, we're going to have to leave it there with you. But you are seeing the first same-sex ceremony to take place in this particular Manhattan New York clerk's office. That's Phyllis and Connie, clearly an older couple; maybe have been together for a long time. Well, their dream is coming true right now.

But right now I have to turn it over to "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley.