The crowd gathered for the rally about a block east of the Stonewall. | MICHAEL SHIREY
Hundreds turned out for a rally at the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which marked the start of the modern LGBT rights movement, to celebrate the US Supreme Court’s ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.
Crowds gathered outside the Stonewall as early as mid-afternoon the day the Supreme Court ruled. | DONNA ACETO
“If you’re not married and you hope to be so one day, you can go on a destination wedding to Alabama or anywhere you want,” said Susan Sommer, senior counsel and national director of constitutional litigation at Lambda Legal, at the June 26 event.
The court ruled on June 26 on suits brought by “14 same-sex couples and two men whose same-sex partners are deceased” from four states that had same-sex marriage bans. Lambda represented four of the couples.
In a 5-4 decision, the court held that “same-sex couples may exercise the right to marry” and that “there is no lawful basis for a State to refuse to recognize a lawful same-sex marriage performed in another State on the ground of its same-sex character.”
The opinion was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy and he was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan.
Two the plaintiffs in the marriage case, Robert Talmas and Joseph Vitale, with their son Cooper, whom they adopted in Ohio, with Lambda Legal's Susan Sommer and James Esseks, who heads up the ACU's LGBT and AIDS Project. | DONNA ACETO
The composition of the court’s pro-marriage majority occasioned one of the rally’s funnier moments when Sharon Kleinbaum, the senior rabbi at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, told the crowd, “I’m going to say something totally off the record –– thank God for the Jews and women on the Supreme Court.”
The rally, which was produced by the New York chapter of Marriage Equality USA and sponsored by nearly 30 other groups, lasted for more 90 minutes. Slated to start at 6 p.m., people began to gather on Christopher Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, the rally site, as early as 3 p.m. and police had already closed the street by then.
Speakers included nearly the entire LGBT caucus of the City Council, former and current members of the State Legislature, religious leaders, pro-marriage and political groups, and Congressmembers Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney. While many of the comments emphasized the joy of the moment, speakers frequently reminded the crowd that the movement’s work was unfinished.
“And today, finally, must be a day of re-dedication, re-dedication to eradicating discrimination,” Nadler said.
Former State Senator Tom Duane, who was the lead Senate sponsor of the 2011 Marriage Equality Act in New York, with Brad Hoylman, who succeeded him in his Senate seat. | DONNA ACETO
The marriage decision means that gay and lesbian couples can now wed in any state in the nation and those marriages must be recognized across the nation, but it does not mean that those couples are protected from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, or in other areas. No federal law bars discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and the 22 states that do have such laws offer a patchwork of protections. Two members of Queer Nation, the activist group, were circulating through the crowd handing out flyers that made this point.
Former State Senator Tom Duane, who is gay, emphasized this when he described the discrimination and violence that some in the LGBT community continue to confront even with the gains of recent years. The task of the community was to end that violence and discrimination.
“It is our job,” Duane said. “Now that we have this right, we have the responsibility to stop that violence.”
While the crowd closest to the stage, which sat roughly two blocks east of Seventh Avenue, remained engaged throughout the rally, people standing closer to that avenue and in front of the Stonewall Inn began to look more like a party than a rally by 6:45 p.m. Champagne corks could be heard popping on Christopher Street.
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum. | DONNA ACETO
Edie Windsor, whose 2013 victory over the Defense of Marriage Act was cited by many of the federal courts that since then ruled for gay marriage, with Brian Silva, executive director of Marriage Equality USA, and Michael Adams, executive director of SAGE. | DONNA ACETO
Singer and comedian Leah DeLaria, a star of Netflix's “Orange is the New Black,” closed out the rally with a rousing message of pride and joy. | DONNA ACETO
After the rally, the crowd outside the Stonewall continued to celebrate into the night. | DONNA ACETO
About an hour after the rally ended, the annual Drag March arrived outside the Stonewall. | DONNA ACETO
