PROVINCETOWN – Following a landmark marriage decision by the Supreme Court Friday, Representative Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown) expressed gratitude to fellow legislators. The court declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States.
“If it hadn’t been for the courage that my colleagues in the state legislature had in 2004, 2005 and 2006 to stand up for what was right, to stand up for equality, we wouldn’t be here as a nation today,” Peake said.
Peake said she was reminded of the day she filed for a marriage license with her wife in 2004.
Massachusetts was the first state to legalize gay marriage that year.
Gay and lesbian couples already can marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia. The court’s ruling on Friday means the remaining 14 states, in the South and Midwest, will have to stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage.
The Supreme Court’s decision affirming the right to gay marriage came on a 5-4 vote.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas were the dissenters.
According to UCLA’s Williams Institute, there are an estimated 390,000 married same-sex couples in the United States.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this article.
