Passing through Greenwich Village after The Defense of Marriage Act Was Overturned

In my mind, overturning DOMA is to the LGTBQ community what winning a Superbowl is to Steelers fans. Pittsburgh has a lot of Steelers fans. NYC has a lot of LGBTQ people. Therefore I expected parallel celebrations, people pouring into the streets, flying the team colors, hugs and high fives all around. That's how it goes in Pittsburgh.

I didn't know where to find the celebration in NYC, but I figured I'd find it in Greenwich Village. The Internet suggested the Stonewall Inn was planning a gathering. So I took a detour on morning communte on to the office.

When I arrived in the area, things were still relatively quiet. My hunch was right. News crews had already positioned vans and taken camera positions across the street from the Stonewall Inn. Right place, wrong time? I imagine the street will be filled at happy hour, after everybody gets off work, because the people affected by this ruling have regular jobs, schedules, rent to pay, love to give and receive, just like the rest of us.

Then again, maybe the reason there isn't a crowd right now is because this is slightly less radical a shift in the community than I think it should be. What changed in this neighborhood except a legal definition? When I look in the windows of local shops, there are rainbow flags. Placards on menus promote a restaurant's support of the community for over 20 years. Maybe I'm naively comparing the time the ruling was issued to the time the last whistle is blown in the Superbowl.

But then again, maybe I was right. The evening news showed quite a crowd at this spot in the evening.