By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The landmark Supreme Court decision Friday to legalize gay marriage was seen as a watershed moment for gays and lesbians and the country as a whole, area politicians said.
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, D-15, who is openly gay, said in a statement that the high court had ruled on the “right side of history.”
“For the countless couples across the nation who have been marginalized, discriminated against and dehumanized for far too long, this is an historic victory,” he said. “No longer will they have to assume the role of second class citizen because of who they love.”
Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert used her Twitter account to retweet a tweet in which President Barack Obama said, “(Friday) we can say in no uncertain terms that we have made our union a little more perfect.”
She was among 15 pro-gay marriage mayors from New Jersey who signed onto a friend of the court brief during the legal challenge at the Supreme Court. In a phone interview Friday, she said the 5-4 ruling is “a great, historic decision.”
Mayor Lempert officiated the first gay marriage in Princeton and in Mercer County, in 2013, of a lesbian couple. She called Friday “a great day for our country” and said she was “elated like so many other people.”
“It’s a great day for equality in America,” said Princeton Councilman Patrick Simon, who is openly gay, in a phone interview. “It’s a great decision.”
Mr. Simon was driving in his car when he heard on the radio the news of the ruling. He called it the “best possible outcome we could have hoped for.”
In the landmark case, three of the justices who are Princeton University graduates came down on different sides of the ruling.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, part of the liberal bloc on the high court, were part of the five-member majority to legalize gay marriage.
Justice Samuel Alito, a member of the conservative wing of the court, was part of the minority dissent.
Two state leaders had different takes on the ruling.
“This decision marks a historic step for justice in America and it sends a powerful message to advance the principles of progress and equality,” said state Senate President and likely gubernatorial candidate Stephen M. Sweeney, D-3, in a statement. “Marriage equality is about equal rights and justice and this decision is further affirmation of the actions we took in New Jersey to ensure the rights of same-sex couples.”
For his part, Gov. Chris Christie said that he thought the courts should have let each state decide the issue.
“I think this is something that should be decided by the people of each state and not imposed upon them by a group of lawyers sitting in black robes at the U.S Supreme Court,” he said after the ruling.
