Queens LGBT Community Thanks Obama For Endorsing Same-Sex Marriage

Queens' gay community, led by Councilman Daniel Dromm, thanked President Obama for his support of same-sex marriage

DNAinfo/Smriti Rao

JACKSON HEIGHTS — Members of the gay and lesbian community in Queens gave President Barack Obama a big "thank you" in Jackson Heights Thursday for his unprecedented stance supporting gay marriage.  

Calling it a "glorious day" for the LGBT community, one of the borough's first openly gay councilman, Daniel Dromm, said he was thrilled to hear the president had "chosen to be on the right side of history" by supporting same-sex marriage.

On Wednesday, Obama publicly expressed his support for gay marriage, the first time any sitting U.S. president has done so.

"It is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," Obama said in an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts. 

“President Reagan won’t even say the word 'AIDS,' and here you have President Obama saying same-sex marriage,” Dromm said. “It shows you what a long way we have come.”

Obama's remarks come ahead of the 20th Anniversary of the Queens Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade, an annual event that draws more than 60,000 people to the area. Dromm founded the festival in response to the anti-gay murder of Julio Rivera in 1990.

Queens activist Brendan Fay said that the entire LGBT community was "uplifted" by President Obama’s comments.

“His ringing endorsement will echo through the land — especially in the hearts of young LGBT children, who are getting bullied in churches and schools,” he said.

President Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage comes ahead of Queens' 20th-annual gay pride parade

DNAinfo/Smriti Rao

Marcus Woollen, 38, who will marry his long-term partner this October, welcomed the president's remarks supporting gay m...

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DNAinfo/Smriti Rao