Friday’s landmark ruling in the U.S. saying same-sex couples have the right to marry in any state has given many Maritimers cause to celebrate.
In Moncton, LGBTQ community advocate Jacob Beal was all smiles.
“People from the United States do not need to travel up to Canada to get married now. They can all just stay home and marry and then come here if they want to come for a vacation,” Beal said.
He was 18 when Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize marriage, and came out to his friends a year later.
Now he has some simple advice for our southern neighbours in the gay community.
“Go get married, have fun and be yourselves,” Beal said.
Caitlin Furlong of Dieppe, N.B. considers herself an ally to the LGBTQ community, and her Facebook feed Friday morning reflected that.
“Even though it took a while for them to get there, we can't erase everything they have been through to get to this point,” she said.
“There is still a long way to go but today is definitely a day to celebrate because this is fantastic.”
In Halifax, celebration was already on the agenda, as the province raised the rainbow flag at four government buildings ahead of upcoming Pride events.
The U.S. ruling, some say, is long overdue.
Moncton lawyer Nicole Druckman holds that view, and thinks its impact could be felt far from American soil.
“I think that it is an example that I hope that the rest of the world — countries like (some in) Africa and other countries that discriminate against homosexuals — will follow that lead,” she said.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s David Bell
