History was made in New York, on June 24., after the New York Senate passed a bill to legalize marriage for all. The struggle for equality amongst the LGBT community takes a victory and members of this community can finally say, ‘I do.’

“We’re finally getting the same rights as everyone else,” Cheryle Rudd said, who prepared it to be amoung the first same-sex couples to be marriage in New York State. “Nobody can take that away from us anymore.”

LGBT marriages started at the stroke of midnight July 24. when the bill went into effect. In Albany, the state capital, Mayor Jerry Jennings performed marriages at 12:01 a.m. New York joined Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, along with Washington, D.C. to allow gay marriage.

“To me, it was ‘About time,’” said Fuertes, a 55-year-old operations director for a retail company.

New York’s City Hall announced July 21. it is going to marry all 823 couples who entered a quickly organized competition for the right to say, “I do,” on July 24. — the state’s first day of same-sex marriages, the New York Post reports.

New York City’s City Hall aides John Feinblatt and Jonathan Mintz will have New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg preside over their wedding on the night of July 24.

“The last thing we want to have happen is for couples to wait on line for hours and hours, only to walk away upset on what was supposed to be the biggest day of their lives,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in a news conference at City Hall. Gay and lesbian couples could not attain licenses before July 24. since the state’s same-sex marriage law did not take effect until then.

The race to the altar was no joke, couples had 30 days to prepare, from the day the bill was signed, to the day it took effect, if they wanted to be amongst the firsts LGBT people to be wed. ”This state, when it’s at its finest, is a beacon for social justice,” said New York Gov. Cuomo, who led the struggle. “We reached a new level of social justice this evening.”

The LGBT movement has fought against discrimination in almost all aspects of life, including the courts, legislatures and public education.
They have fought and will continue to fight for equality in relationships, youth and schools procedures, parenting, gender identity and expression and so much more.

New York made history by becoming the sixth and largest state to legalize gay marriage. June 24. will be added to the history books as it marked the day that reminded New Yorkers of the endless possibilities of happiness and equality in the land of the free.

lev radin / Shutterstock.com

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About the author

Nicole Williams