In a 5-4 decision today, the Supreme Court of the United States announced that same-sex marriage is legal in the United States. Now, no matter what state you live in, including the 13 states where same-sex marriage is was illegal, same-sex couples will have the same rights that their heterosexual counterparts enjoy.
The majority opinion was authored by Justice Kennedy and discusses that marriage is an issue of continuity and change that, over time, will require revisiting.
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 once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed. It is so ordered.
Even President Obama is exclaiming his enthusiasm over the decision.
Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else. #LoveWins
— President Obama (@POTUS) June 26, 2015
