Jun 26, 2015 By David Singer 3 min read

In a 5-4 ruling on June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court has validated same-sex marriage as legal in all 50 U.S. states, striking down bans in 14 states.

Mark Comiskey, a barber in Mt. Lebanon who came out as gay during an earlier interview with an Almanac reporter, said before the ruling he just wanted to make sure he left something behind for people who didn’t know him.

“It’s part of me. It’s part of Mark. I just want people to know they – we – that we have a face,” he said. He explained he’s out with most of his clients, but most others don’t know, and that the Supreme Court decision is “a validation of his humanity.”

Susan Boyle, of Mt. Lebanon, said the ruling is a good thing.

“I have wonderful gay friends. This is wonderful. The one man, he’s a professor at University of California Los Angeles; he and his partner have been together for 50 years. There have been gay people for centuries, why should we not acknowledge that?” she said.

Ron Woodson, of Bethel Park, said he doesn’t agree with the ruling based on his Christian faith.

“This doesn’t impact the looming state budget, so I really don’t care either way. I mean, I don’t agree with it, but I guess it’s the law now, but I thought we got our principles and laws from the Bible, and I don’t remember there being anything about allowing this in there,” he said.

The editor of Table magazine, a former South Hills resident, Victoria Bradley-Morris, said she is overjoyed.

“I’m just very emotional. I had been saying for five years that this would be legal soon. It feels like a very sweeping victory for equality. It came to Pennsylvania first, and felt the momentum, it was only a matter of time,” she said.

Bradley-Morris married her partner in Washington, D.C. in 2012 because of the ban that was still in place in Pennsylvania.

“We married on the lawn by the Jefferson Memorial. But, despite that, when we came back to Pennsylvania, we faced a lot of discrimination. I couldn’t change my name. At the Department of Motor Vehicles, it would have been $1,200 to change my name instead of the usual $12, much like transgender or witness protection people have to go through,” she said.

But the financial holdups didn’t stop there.

“We couldn’t file our taxes together, despite being married; we couldn’t share health insurance together,” she said.

“I come from a very conservative, Mormon family, and when I got a text from my mom this morning with a heart emoji icon, it was a big deal. It’s almost a bigger deal than the ruling itself.”