Mayor Thomas Menino Says Gay Marriage Has Made Boston Better

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino has said gay marriage has made Boston “a much better place to live.”

Menino is one of the more than 75 mayors joining the nascent group Mayors for the Freedom to Marry.

Mayors involved will lobby state lawmakers to approve marriage equality legislation and call on Congressional representatives to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which bars federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples.

At a Friday press conference held at the 80^th annual U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington D.C., Menino said that Boston was better for having marriage equality.

“It was nearly 8 years ago that my city was the first large city in the country to marry same-sex couples,” Menino told reporters. “Back then it was a huge deal. Huge. I'm here to tell you that marriage for gay couples has made my city of Boston a much better place to live.”

Menino also called on Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which bars federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of gay couples.

“It's the right thing and the American thing to do,” he said.

(Related: Annise Parker: Gay marriage would have made a tremendous difference in my life.)