Pride celebrations in San Francisco and New York always happen to take place simultaneously every year, on the last Sunday in June.  How perfectly fitting that on the eve of this year’s Pride, New York finally legalized same-sex marriage, fueling the weekend’s overall merriment on both coasts!

The New York Times sums it up quite easily

While New York lawmakers deserve plenty of praise for their decisions late last week, so too comes credit to certain Republicans who apparently had a significant if not determining hand in the process.  Along the winding and often challenging road to New York’s marriage equality, what appears to emerge now is a greater sense of bipartisanship to serve as a model for other states’ workings on this matter.  Personal relationships don’t hurt either.

In the meantime, same-sex marriage is now legal in one more state, with understandable religious exemptions in place.  Another triumphant Pride weekend has come and gone, with thousands of overjoyed gay couples now planning their nuptials.  As numerous details of the process exist to be read and contemplated, along with varying sides and outlooks to consider, nothing can take away from the happiness of this moment in history, for so many New Yorkers especially.

Congratulations New York.  Happy Pride indeed.  I look forward to all that’s yet to come, no matter the path and with all the players, in every state in the nation.