Remembering the gay marriage vote in New York City...back in June...
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| With friends celebrating the same-sex marriage bill vote at Stonewall |
Last Friday night...was one of the best nights of my life so far and not because I was hitting the boulevard, taking shots and dancing on tabletops like Katy Perry's current single on the radio.
I was lucky enough to be in New York City when state politicians passed same-sex marriage rights into law. The energy and exhilaration...the hope that charged throughout the city that night made me more proud than ever to be gay...to be part of our continual fight for LGBT equality.
Before I came to visit NYC, I had been following the gay marriage bill in the news, but I was reluctant to get too excited about it. After several days of false alarms and stalled prospects of the gay marriage bill passing, I had somewhat given up thinking about it, but fortunately politicians and activists across the state had not.
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| Celebrating after hearing the news! |
The issue had gone briefly out of sight and mind while I enjoyed fine wine and food with some friends on the roof top of a condo building in Battery Park..but the news slowly trickled into our little, social sphere via texts and tweets and Facebook updates.
Eventually the news was out and marriage equality was becoming a reality in New York finally! The group of friends I was with decided we had to go to Christopher Street in the West Village to celebrate. What better place to celebrate this historic victory than the site of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, which are credited with launching the modern-day LGBT rights movement?
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| The war is over on Christopher Street? |
We quickly caught a cab to Stonewall and partied the night away celebrating another amazing moment in LGBT history. Though same-sex marriage is legal in New York now, New Yorkers will still be denied the federal benefits of being marriage due to DOMA. I look forward to the day when the federal government finally recognizes same-sex marriage and it is legal everywhere. #loveislove
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| Julius Bar in West Village |
I dragged my friends to the bar Julius to take a couple pictures as well because without Julius there would have never been a Stonewall.
On April 21, 1966 members of the New York Chapter of the Mattachine Society staged a "Sip-In" at Julius protesting the New York State Liquor Authority's policy that bars not serve alcohol to homosexuals. The courts eventually ruled that gays had the right to peacefully assemble in public paving the way for Stonewall.
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