Stars Come Out To Celebrate Gay Marriage Ruling In Hollywood

The California Supreme Court ruling allowing gays to legally marry was celebrated last night in Hollywood with a special commitment ceremony attended by celebrities including “Grey’s Anatomy” star T.R. Knight and the “Tonight Show’s” Jay Leno.

“It’s just marriage, that’s what people need to realize. It’s just marriage and that’s it. It needs no clarifying,” Knight told Access. “Equality needs no clarifier.”

In what may be one of the last symbolic commitment ceremonies in California since the state Supreme Court ended the ban on gay marriage, gay and lesbian couples packed the floor of West Hollywood hot spot The Abbey to express their love in front of family, friends and celebrity witnesses.

“It’s life and it’s fine,” Knight said. “I have a lot of friends that are gay, a couple that have been married for years and years.”

Proudly wearing Love and Pride’s Matthew Shepard “Erase Hate” pendant, Jay Leno and Knight joined Judy Shepard, Matthew’s gay activist mom, at the celebration.

“I actually had a discussion with my son, Matthew, before he was killed about marriage,” she said. “He asked me, ‘Do you think we’ll ever be able to marry?’ And I said ‘I think you’ll see it in your life time, but not in mine,’ and ironically it turned out to be the other way around. So this is really a great day for me personally.”

Though the option is open, there will be no upcoming nuptials for Knight and his boyfriend Mark Cornelsen.

“Not in the near future,” he said. “I take it seriously. I take it very seriously because when you’re denied something, you don’t realize what a second-class citizen you are until you get it.”