Another victory in the civil rights campaign to treat all Americans equally under the law!
This is wonderful news for our LGBT citizens and for all of us!
Thank you New York for doing the right thing.
From The New York Times:
"Supporters of the same-sex marriage bill danced in the streets of the West Village after the State Senate approved it on Friday night.
Crowds gathered, screamed and embraced in Sheridan Square near the Stonewall Inn, where the gay-rights movement began more than 40 years ago. Many stood on park benches to get a better view. Gay and lesbian bars in the neighborhood were packed with patrons, and the neighborhood had the feel of jubilant celebration.
“Equality is what this means; this is our right as people,” said John Huls, 52, standing in the Stonewall with his partner, Jay Hoff, 50. “It’ll be our same relationship. We’re the same people as when we met, except now it’s proper in the eyes of the state, and I’ll be able to look at people and say, ‘This is my husband.’ ”
Washington Post:
"New York joins Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia in allowing gays to wed. A court challenge to a 2008 amendment to the California state constitution that banned gay marriage after a state Supreme Court ruling made it legal there is wending its way through the federal appeals court process. If marriage-equality proponents succeed in the Golden State, 23.3 percent of Americans will live in states where gay couples can legally wed."Greg Sargent says it best:
"This is another major defeat for those self-described “conservatives” who hate government except when it’s enforcing a form of legalized discrimination that comports with their prejudices. But this isn’t about them. It’s about everyone but them.
What just happened in New York is not just a big legal breakthrough; it’s an important chapter in a larger story. For the first time this year, majorities of Americans support legalized gay marriage, which means majorities of Americans are not prepared to assign subpar status to the intimate relationships of gays and lesbians. Majorities of Americans no longer think it’s acceptable to tell people they have no right to partake in a basic human ritual that is viewed by the religious as sacred — or viewed by the nonreligious as merely fundamental to life as we live it — on the basis of sexual orientation alone."
I am thrilled to see this country maturing and moving away from the imposition of religious prejudices and hatreds on our citizens by way of unConstitutional laws. The party that loves to shout FREEDOM! and LIBERTY! has tried to obstruct and challenge the freedom and liberty of our gay and lesbian citizens. State by state, this will no longer stand.
**Yankees not included.
