Couples descended the town hall steps to cheering crowds and cries of "Kiss, kiss, kiss." On this historic day, many obliged.

Gay marriage may be the subject of pitched legal battles across the nation, but Monday in "P-town," a fishing village and popular gay destination on Cape Cod, it's a small-town victory.

Even the out-of-staters drawn here by the town's refusal to enforce residency requirements for couples seeking marriage licenses get a warm welcome. Some of the several hundred residents lining the streets and sidewalks offer complimentary roses to participants in the first day of legal same-sex marriages in US history.

From this sea side community, to Boston's imposing city hall and a spired stone building in the state's Connecticut River Valley, hundreds of gay and lesbian couples from across the state and nation thronged the Bay State's municipal buildings and churches.

For the most part, cheering crowds of friends and family overwhelmed pockets of protesters, who saw their last hope of preventing the marriages fail last week when federal courts turned down last-minute appeals.

The world was watching, too, as Massachusetts joined Belgium, the Netherlands, and Canada's three most populous provinces as the only places in the world where gays can marry.

Yet perhaps nowhere was the emotion and elation of this day experienced more keenly than here, a small place that, as a de facto capital of gay America, has for decades felt the lows and highs of the gay-rights movement.

But most locals say this isn't a big change for P-town: It's an affirmation of what it has symbolized for a long time.

"Of course we're proud, but Provincetown's always been full of artistic people, creative people, diverse people, and gay people have always come here and felt accepted," says Mary DeRocco, who's been selling commitment rings to gay couples at Ruby's Provincetown Fine Jewelry for 18 years. Today, she says, "It's like the rest of the world has finally caught up to us."

The historic events began at midnight, as the Cambridge City Hall awarded licenses to 260 couples, including the first-in-line Susan Shepherd and Marcia Hams. Thousands crowded the streets of this liberal and intellectual bastion, throwing rice as the couples exited with their paperwork.

About a half dozen protesters from Kansas were the most vocal protestors. Gov. Mitt Romney (R) had lobbied against legalizing gay marriage, and had evoked a 1913 law requiring those getting licenses to show proof of residency.

But opponents saw their final effort to prevent the marriages fail last week, after the Supreme Court declined the case.

Nationwide opposition to gay marriage appears to be waning, according to a new Gallup Poll. A study done in early May shows 42 percent of Americans approve of gay marriage, up from 31 percent in mid-December.

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