In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled Friday that states in the US cannot ban same-sex marriage, establishing a new civil right, and handing gay rights advocates a victory that until very recently would have seemed unthinkable.
In a landmark ruling today which was delivered just in time for Pride weekend festivities in San Francisco and New York City, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 5-4 decision that gay marriage is the law of the land. It says that the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees gays and lesbians must have the same right to marry as heterosexuals.
The justices also ruled in the issue that has bitterly divided the nation that states without gay-marriage laws on the books must recognize gay marriages performed in other states.
The far-reaching decision settles one of the major civil rights fights of this era, one that has rapidly evolved in the minds of the American pubic and its leaders, including President Barack Obama who struggled publicly with the issue and ultimately embraced same-sex marriage in the months before his 2012 re-election.
"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they once were." Justice Anthony Kennedy writing for the majority with the four liberal justices.