As we celebrate yesterday's passage of Marraige Equality in New York, we wanted to share a few brief thoughts on what this tremendous victory means for us here in Florida.
Winning marriage in New York is particularly special for Florida's LGBT community. So many of us either came from New York, have 2nd homes there, or have friends and family in New York. Because of our close ties, many gay and lesbian couples from Florida will decide to go to New York to get married. Unfortunately, when they return home their legal marriages will not yet be recognized by our state or federal governments.
But here in Florida we are also moving in the direction of equality, and today 6.7 million Floridians live in communities that recognize our families with domestic partnership benefits.
Our goal is the same as our friends' in New York, and this victory is a turning point that brings us much closer to full marriage equality for all of our families.
Today we send our heartfelt thanks to everyone in New York who has worked so hard for this day. And in particular we want to send out a huge congratulations to our colleagues at Empire State Pride Agenda, New York's statewide LGBT advocacy organization, whose tireless work on behalf of New York state's LGBT community laid the foundation for this history-making win.
We hope you are finding time to reflect on this amazing moment, to soak it in, to celebrate, and to know you are a part of it.
Onward toward full equality,
Your Equality Florida Family
