In the 5-4 decision written by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the high court said that the U.S. Constitution guarantees gay and lesbian couples the right to marry.
Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, praised the ruling in a written statement.
“Today’s ruling is a transformative triumph decades in the making, a momentous victory for freedom, equality, inclusion, and above all, love. For anyone who ever doubted that we could bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice, today the United States again took a giant step toward the more perfect union we the people aspire to” Wolfson said. “Today the Liberty Bell rings alongside wedding bells across an ocean of joy.”
“With the ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, the justices affirmed what a super-majority of Americans had come to understand: the freedom to marry is a precious, fundamental right that belongs to all, and that same-sex couples and our families share the same dreams and needs as any others.”
The ruling comes in a case challenging bans in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.
An appellate court had ruled in favor of the states, whose lawyers argued that the issue should be decided by the people, rather than by judges. Plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court.
by Carlos Santoscoy
Source – On Top Magazine
