On the day the U.S. Supreme Court made history by upholding gay marriage, members of the LGBT community gathered at Lake Sumter Landing and sang, “God Bless the U.S.A.”
“We have it now,” said Karen Knight of the Village of Bonnybrook. “We are legal wherever we go.”
Knight and Pat Lee, who had married two years ago out of state, were among those celebrating the high court’s ruling Friday evening at Market Square.
Members of the Villages Rainbow Family & Friends proudly waved flags and hugged friends and loved ones in honor of the historic day.
“I never believed it would happen in my lifetime,” said Village of Calumet Grove resident Mary O’Donnell. “I know it didn’t turn on a dime, but it feels like it did.”
She and Lucinda Green married two years ago in San Francisco, after 27 years of being together.
Pastor Jim Lynch of Open Circle MCC Church in Belleview, who is gay, joked that the Supreme Court ruling ends some confusion.
“I don’t have to wonder, ‘Where am I and am I married here?'” he said.
For Villages Family & Friends co-chairs Peggy Garvin and Wendy O’Donnell, who have been together for more than two decades, it was a day worth celebrating.
“I can’t believe it,” Garvin said. “It’s finally here.”
The group got out and danced to longtime favorites like, “We Are Family.”
But when the act on the pavilion, the France Neil Trio, struck up the Lee Greenwood classic, everyone sang loud and proud to the lyrics, “Proud to be An American.”
