BALTIMORE — LAST week’s Supreme Court decision to strike down the core provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act is a stride toward greater equality in the United States. But it is also a shift that will reverberate far beyond our shores. America has always been a beacon for those unable to live a life of liberty in their homelands, and the ruling sends a strong signal of encouragement to such individuals, and to their governments, about what we consider fair and morally acceptable.

In 1979, as I waited in line to enter the United States for the first time, I was fairly certain I was gay. When I was growing up in Mumbai, homosexuality was invisible — I hadn’t met a single person like myself in my 20 years there. America, to me, offered a ray of hope through my despair: I’d detected incontrovertible evidence of gay life in its magazines and films.

Now I stood at the threshold, being asked by the uniformed gatekeeper to state my business. I handed over my I-20 form: proof I’d come to pursue an advanced mathematics degree and nothing else. Then I was through, into the promised land.

Gazing back at my almost three and a half decades here, I see a life filled with opportunity and freedom. Yes, there were years of furtiveness, of sleepless nights wondering if I’d be sent back. But also the time and space I needed to explore and ease into my identity, the ability to live openly with the person I love for 23 years (and counting). And with this ruling comes the affirmation of what first attracted me to this country: its promise of fairness and equality.