It was fitting that New York City’s Pride March and PrideFest landed on June 24—exactly one year since the marriage equality legislation was signed into law by Gov. Cuomo. Fast forward to a year later and wedding venues across the state have seen over 3,000 same-sex couples married, while within the city limits a whopping 5,054 (as of February 2012, the most recent data available).
Between the Pride March floats filled with gay boys in cowboy hats dancing to Will Smith’s Wild Wild West, and drag queens impressively walking the 30-plus blocks in towering heels, newly wedded couples walked hand-in-hand, celebrating their love and their state’s recognition of it.
This year at Pride, it felt different. The typical sense of celebration was heightened to a new extreme. As far as the state was concerned, we won. And no opposing groups succeeded in overturning our rights. That sense of achievement brought tears to my eyes, as I watched over two million spectators, made up of the LGBT community and straight allies, flood the sidewalks of Manhattan, waving rainbow flags with pride underneath the hot summer sun.
“Today, I hope people are feeling so gratified that the work that we saw get voted on last year has now been implemented and has even further ripples with the statement of President Obama,” said City Council Speaker, and newlywed herself, Christine Quinn, who spoke to press before the March.
“We still have work to do. We have to get GENDA (the Gender Expression Nondiscrimination Act) passed and we have to get rights for transgender people in New York. But we should be very grateful that our years of effort have led the president of the United States, for the first time ever, a sitting president, to say he supports marriage equality, and he will not defend the Defense of Marriage Act. That’s a remarkable thing.”
Mayor Mike Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Gov. Andrew Cuomo
So what will this year bring in marriage equality? Four states will vote on same-sex marriage in their November referendums, and the constitutionality of both DOMA and Prop 8 will have been ruled on by the Supreme Court by next Pride Month. Either President Obama or Mitt Romney will be heading up the White House, which will clearly have a definitive role in the future marital rights for LGBT couples.
Regardless of what the future holds, one thing’s for sure. We’re not going to stop until we’ve succeeded in full equality, nationwide.
