On both sides of the Delaware River, advocates cheered Friday's Supreme Court decision declaring same-sex marriage a constitutional right, while critics voiced concerns about improper judicial activism and restrictions on religious freedom.
In Philadelphia, John Speer rested a rainbow flag - the same one Mayor Nutter ordered to fly at City Hall - on one shoulder. Speer, 72, came out in 1976. Before that, he sneaked into gay bars.
"I really didn't think I'd live to see this day," said Speer, one of hundreds who convened on Independence Mall to celebrate the ruling.
Although both supporters and opponents in the region had expected this change to come within days, it didn't lessen the magnitude of the decision - or the emotional response.
"It's a gigantic lesson in what marriage means and what love means, what dignity means, what respect means," said Mark Aronchick, a Philadelphia lawyer who led the Whitewood v. Corbett case that overturned Pennsylvania's gay-marriage ban in 2014.
Gov. Christie said the issue should be decided by states, "not imposed upon them by a group of lawyers sitting in black robes at the U.S. Supreme Court." However, he said, he would uphold the law just as he has done since the New Jersey Supreme Court overturned the state's ban in 2013.
Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D., Burlington) said the ruling put the court "on the right side of the law, and history."
Other Democratic lawmakers agreed.
"The Supreme Court has ended one of the blatant forms of discrimination that keep loving families apart based solely on who they love and where they live," said U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.).
For opponents, this was the latest in an avalanche of rulings overturning state bans and dismantling a time-honored tradition rooted in religion, family, and morals.
"This is the Roe v. Wade of marriage, which will have consequences beyond this decision today," said Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council. "It has always been understood that children are created by, and do best when raised by, a mother and a father. No Supreme Court ruling can alter this truth."
For supporters, the date of the ruling was meaningful - exactly two years after the Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act and 12 years after the court overturned antisodomy laws.
This year also marks the 50th anniversary of a gay-rights march in front of Independence Hall that many now consider the start of a national LGBT civil rights movement.
Malcolm Lazin, executive director of the Equality Forum, said thousands are expected to celebrate that anniversary - and, now, the ruling - in Philadelphia on July Fourth. James Obergefell, lead plaintiff in the case that brought Friday's Supreme Court ruling, is set to speak.
Legal experts said this ruling, written by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, will become a landmark ruling on par with Roe v. Wade or Brown v. Board of Education.
All four conservative justices wrote their own dissents - John G. Roberts Jr. even read his from the bench, a first in his nearly 10 years as chief justice.
Andrea Bowen, executive director of Garden State Equality, said she was surprised that Roberts did not join in the majority.
"A lot of us thought it would be a 6-3 decision," she said.
The 5-4 ruling will have little effect on states such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania that already allow gay marriage. But couples who married here can now move to Georgia or North Dakota without reverting to boyfriend, girlfriend, or partner status.
While they are happy to declare the battle for same-sex marriage officially won, activists said more needs to be done to prevent discrimination and improve health and welfare, housing, and other services for LGBT people, especially youths.
New Jersey's antidiscrimination law covers sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and marriage or domestic partnership status.
But in Pennsylvania, "you can get married at 10 in the morning, and at 3 in the afternoon you can be fired from your job, evicted from your home," said Terry Mutchler, the state's former open-records chief, who wrote a book about the death of her partner in the 1990s, when their relationship was not recognized legally.
Democrat Jim Kenney and Republican Melissa Murray Bailey, the nominees for Philadelphia mayor, both praised the ruling Friday.
Religious organizations and some business groups are gearing up for battles over religious liberty and freedom of speech, fearing they will be accused of discrimination if they refuse to officiate or cater a gay wedding.
Jay Lassiter, a gay-rights advocate from Cherry Hill, said he hoped such conflicts would ease after Friday's ruling.
"We need to win with grace," he said. "There are people who will feel harmed by this decision. They are still Americans. We have more work to do in the court of public opinion."