Marriage Equality Passes in New York

After years of trying, marriage equality finally passed in Albany last Friday night.  With the leadership of Governor Cuomo and the remarkable votes of four Republican senators, the bill was signed into law by the governor shortly before midnight.  The support from across the aisle was key and notable too for one senator's moving statement describing his vote: “I cannot deny a person, a human being, a taxpayer, a worker, the people of my district and across this state, the State of New York, and those people who make this the great state that it is the same rights that I have with my wife.”  Thank you Senator Mark J. Grisanti....for your vote and your simple eloquence. 

To celebrate the event, there was an impromptou street party in the Village on Friday night in front of the historic Stonewall Inn.  It was there that 42 years ago, almost to the day, gays and lesbians and transgenders stood up for their rights for the first time as they fought back against a police raid on their bar. The ensuing riots lasted for 3 nights.  I stopped by the Stonewall on my way home later that night and, instead of bricks and broken glass, there was confetti and glitter and plastic champagne flutes on the sidewalk. It was a stunning sight to see.

Flipping through the TIMES photos of yesterday's gay pride parade, there was another image that got my attention.  It was a picture of a female police officer along the parade route, down on one knee, as she proposed to her lesbian partner in front of a receptive crowd.  Wow....to see it for yourself, just click here.  This is one of those pictures worth a thousand words as it captures the incredible story of the progress of the modern gay/lesbian civil rights movement....from police brandishing riot sticks to offering a glittering engagement ring.

NetPix: The Story Behind The Stonewall Riots

I was watching PBS last night and saw an intense documentary about the Stonewall Riots, which marked the beginning of the gay rights movement in the summer of 1969.  STONEWALL UPRISING was the most detailed recounting of events I had ever seen including interviews with patrons who were inside the bar, Village VOICE reporters (whose offices were across the street) and even the police officer who headed up the raid that started a revolution.

Seymour Pine, of the 6th Precinct, was the officer in charge of the six man raid on the bar which quickly spiraled out of control.  The police were so overwhelmed by the mob that crowded Christopher Street that they hid inside the bar, waiting for backup.  During those tense minutes, Pine took each officer aside and told them in no uncertain terms not to fire their guns unless he gave them the order to by name.  It was a chilling aspect of the Stonewall story I'd never heard.  Pine knew that the riot could have turned into a massacre in the flash of one officers' gun and prevented that from happening.

In the end, though, scores were injured when riot police arrived and the real fighting began. The melee, which started around 1am and went until 4am, left the bar in a shambles and the streets of the village littered with debris. But it was the beginning of the modern gay rights movement.  And this film tells the remarkable story of the night with incredible detail and emotion.  Well worth ordering on NetFlix or seeing the next time it airs.