WASHINGTON DC, USA– The U.S. Supreme Court declared Friday that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the country, in a dramatic culmination of two decades of litigation over gay rights in general.
"No union is more profound than marriage," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy for the five liberal justices in the majority opinion.
Gay and lesbian couples already could marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia. The court's 5-4 ruling means the remaining 14 states, in the South and Midwest, will have to stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage. A number of states quickly announced they would start issuing marriage licenses.
President Barack Obama praised the decision as "justice that arrives like a thunderbolt." Speaking at the White House, he called it an affirmation of the principle that "all Americans are created equal." The White House website displayed a large rainbow flag, a key symbol of gay pride.
Carlos McKnight of Washington, waves a flag in support of gay marriage outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday June 26, 2015. A major opinion on gay marriage is among the remaining to be released before the term ends at the end of June. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Hundreds of activists gathered outside the Supreme Court building to celebrate, chanting, "Love has won" and singing the national anthem. The crowd also raised a large flag with the pink equal sign that has come to symbolize the gay marriage movement. Some wept.
The ruling will not take effect immediately because the court gives the losing side roughly three weeks to ask for reconsideration. But some state officials and county clerks might decide there is little risk in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The cases before the court involved laws from several states that define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Those states have not allowed same-sex couples to marry within their borders, and they also have refused to recognise valid marriages from elsewhere.
The number of states allowing same-sex marriage has grown rapidly. As recently as October, just over one-third of the states permitted same-sex marriage.
There are an estimated 390,000 married same-sex couples in the United States, according to Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, which tracks the demographics of gay and lesbian Americans.
Another 70,000 couples living in states that do not currently permit them to wed would get married in the next three years, the institute says. Roughly onemillion same-sex couples, married and unmarried, live together in the United States, the institute says.
The Obama administration backed the right of same-sex couples to marry. The Justice Department's decision to stop defending the federal anti-marriage law in 2011 was an important moment for gay rights, and Obama declared his support for same-sex marriage in 2012 after what he called an "evolution" in his thinking.
The ruling is also "a great thing for kids, who no longer have to question why their parents weren't deemed worthy for marriage," Mary Bonauto, the attorney representing same-sex couples, told the activists.–AP