U.S. Supreme Court rules states must allow same-sex marriage

[SugarD]

Washington (CNN) - In a landmark opinion, the Supreme Court ruled Friday that states cannot ban same-sex marriage, handing gay rights advocates their biggest victory yet.

The 5-4 ruling had Justice Anthony Kennedy writing for the majority with the four liberal justices. Each of the four conservative justices wrote their own dissent.

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. He 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," Kennedy wrote. "In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they once were."

In a dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia blasted the Court's "threat to American democracy."

"The substance of today's decree is not of immense personal importance to me," he wrote. "But what really astounds is the hubris reflected in today's judicial Putsch."

The relevant cases were argued earlier this year. Attorney John Bursch, serving as Michigan's Special Assistant Attorney General, defended four states' bans on gay marriage before the Court, arguing that the case was not about how to define marriage, but rather about who gets to decide the question.

The case came before the Supreme Court after several lower courts overturned state bans on gay marriage. A federal appeals court had previously ruled in favor of the state bans, with Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals writing a majority opinion in line with the rationale that the issue should be decided through the political process, not the courts.

Fourteen couples and two widowers challenged the bans. Attorneys Mary Bonauto and Doug Hallward-Driemeier presented their case before the Court, arguing that the freedom to marry is a fundamental right for all people and should not be left to popular vote.

Three years after President Barack Obama first voiced his support for gay couples' right to marry, his administration supported the same sex couples at the Supreme Court.

"Gay and lesbian people are equal," Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. told the justices at the oral arguments earlier this year. "It is simply untenable -- untenable -- to suggest that they can be denied the right of equal participation in an institution of marriage, or that they can be required to wait until the majority decides that it is ready to treat gay and lesbian people as equals.

The same-sex couples who challenged gay marriage bans in Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio were just a few of the estimated 650,000 same-sex couples in the United States, 125,000 of whom are raising children.

The challenges included same-sex couples who wanted to marry, those who sought to have their lawful out-of-state marriage recognized, as well as those who wanted to amend a birth or death certificate with their marriage status.

The lead plaintiff in the case is Jim Obergefell who married his spouse John Arthur in 2013 months before Arthur died.

The couple, who lived in Ohio, had to travel to Maryland aboard a medical jet to get married when Arthur became gravely ill. And when Arthur died, Obergefell began to fight to be recognized as Arthur's spouse on his death certificate..

The plaintiffs from Michigan are April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, two Detroit-area nurses who are also foster parents. They took to the courts after they took in four special-needs newborns who were either abandoned or surrendered at birth, but could not jointly adopt the children because Michigan's adoption code requires that couples be married to adopt.

Sgt. Ijpe Dekoe and Thomas Kostura became plaintiffs in the gay marriage case after they moved to Tennessee from New York.

The pair had married in New York in 2011, but Dekoe's position in the Army took the couple to Tennessee, which banned gay marriage and refused to recognize gay marriages performed in other states.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/26/politics/supreme-court-same-sex-marriage-ruling/index.html

[AK47]

it's 2015, congratulations on being human duh

[Mr. Goobii]

Better too late than never! Congrats!

[Huntsman]

Congratulations!

[Rick.]

Some states are still trying to hold out.

[Gnb_22]

who you saying congrats to ?

[Marcel]

Here's a warm welcome to the 21st century, America.

who you saying congrats to ?

To the people that couldn't get married in their state because of this, maybe?

[Gnb_22]

Here's a warm welcome to the 21st century, America.
To the people that couldn't get married in their state because of this, maybe?

Will they see this ?

[Ehks]

Out of curiosity, for whoever is so happy for homosexuals and is congratulating them... Would you accept it if your son become gay or your daughter become lesbian?

I on the other hand, I hate it but I'm not here to tell them what they can or cannot do... Whatever they do will never affect my life whatsoever so if two homosexuals out there want to get married... And they got the chance... Meh good for them.

[Allison]

Some states are still trying to hold out.

Ohio being one of them, as usual, but there's no chance for them to do anything about it.

Out of curiosity, for whoever is so happy for homosexuals and is congratulating them... Would you accept it if your son become gay or your daughter become lesbian?

Yes.

[Mr. Goobii]

Would you accept it if your son become gay or your daughter become lesbian?

As a parent, I would wish my kids the best happiness. I would stand up as a parent and support whatever they think is right, because who are actually right in this world? Me? You?

This is pure liberty bro'

[AK47]

Out of curiosity, for whoever is so happy for homosexuals and is congratulating them... Would you accept it if your son become gay or your daughter become lesbian?

i'd love them for whatever they choose to be

[ssaammee]

Out of curiosity, for whoever is so happy for homosexuals and is congratulating them... Would you accept it if your son become gay or your daughter become lesbian?

I'd be more than happy for my child.

That's just ridiculous. As said, it's 2015. I cannot understand why this dicussion is still up on the table. Life would be much better if we put as much engery on trying to solve world poverty instead.

[Ehks]

Yes.

i'd love them for whatever they choose to be

I would stand up as a parent and support whatever they think is right.

  Right, at least you would accept it. Other people who were happy to hear this news said they would not like to see their children take the same path, so wanted to ask you about it.

[Benn]

People finally understood the meaning of equality!
Congratulations