Politics & Government

Cortlandt, Peekskill Reacts to DOMA News: 'It's a Victory for Everyone'

"I had faith in them."

That's what Michael Mascari, a 23-year-old Buchanan resident, said Wednesday about the United States Supreme Court's 5-4 decision that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional.

"It's one sort of large victory for overall equality, for everybody, regardless of who you are," said Mascari, who is attending this weekend's gay pride march in New York. "We're not living as much in the dark ages as we used to be."

Signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996, DOMA kept the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages that had been legalized by the states. 

"DOMA was actually an act of discrimination which treated gay Americans like second class citizens," City of Peekskill Councilman Darren Riggers said. "At last, married same-sex couples will now be treated equally when it comes to critical federal programs like Social Security, immigration and inheritance. Gay rights are human rights and this is a victory for every American."

Kathie Talbot, another member of Peekskill's Common Council, shared similar sentiments. 

"It's a victory for everyone," she told Patch. "When one group's civil rights are denied, all of us should be deeply concerned."

Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy, Rtuh Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan voted in the majority to declare DOMA unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonio Scalia and Samuel Alito all filed dissenting opinions.

"The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimated purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity," Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. "By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statue is in violation of the Fifth Amendment."

US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) spoke out in support of the Supreme Court ruling Wednesday.

"This is a historic day for our country on its long march towards upholding the fundamental values this country was founded upon of fairness, equality and justice," Gillibrandsaid. "I am overjoyed the Supreme Court has ruled to end the descrimination that had been enshrined into U.S. law."

Gillibrand said there is still work to be done on the federal level regarding DOMA.

"Now that the Supreme Court has ruled DOMA is unconstitutional, Congress must do its job and get this corrosive law off the books so there is certainty for all loving committed couples across state lines," Gillibrand said. "I promise to work hard to pass the Respect for Marriage Act and finally put the discriminatory DOMA policy into the dustbin of history where it belongs."

What do you think of Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling? Tell us here.

Editor's note: 

One of Kathie Talbot's sentiments was initially misstated. The post has been updated.

Find out what's happening in Peekskill-Cortlandtwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Ryan Buncher contributed to this story, which was originally published the afternoon of June 26.


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