The Supreme Court has delivered a historic victory for gay rights, ruling 5 to 4 that the Constitution requires that same-sex couples be allowed to marry no matter where they live and that states may no longer reserve the right only for heterosexual couples.
Advocates have called the right for same-sex ‘the most pressing civil rights issue of modern times’, while critics said the courts had sent the country into uncharted territory by changing the traditional definition of marriage.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion
Under the Constitution, same-sex couples seek in marriage the same legal treatment as opposite-sex couples, and it would disparage their choices and diminish their personhood to deny them this right.”
He was joined in the ruling by the court’s liberal justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
All four of the court’s most conservative members — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. — dissented and each wrote a separate opinion, saying the court had usurped a power that belongs to the people.
It is unclear how soon marriage licences will be issued in states where gay unions were previously prohibited.
Before the ruling on Thursday, same-sex couples could marry in 37 states in addition to Washington DC.
Hundreds of people had camped out for hours awaiting the news, and when it was delivered a loud cheers erupted outside the court.
On social media, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton merely tweeted the word “proud” and the White House changed its Twitter avatar into the rainbow colours.
Proud. pic.twitter.com/9J44PCYeuQ
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 26, 2015
Proud to celebrate a historic victory for marriage equality—& the courage & determination of LGBT Americans who made it possible. -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 26, 2015