Supreme Court Rules for Same-Sex Marriage throughout the US

157867210 (1)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States.

Gay and lesbian couples already can marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia. The court’s ruling on Friday means the remaining 14 states, in the South and Midwest, will have to stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage.

United States President Barack Obama said this is just the first step.

“There’s so much more work to be done to extend the full promise of America to every american, but today we can say in no uncertain terms, that we’ve made our union a little more perfect,” said Obama.

Gay marriages are already underway in states where they were banned until the Supreme Court ruling.

Several gay couples have received marriage licenses in Atlanta since the decision came out.

One of those couples, Petrina Bloodworth and Emma Foulkes, were wed in a morning ceremony and are the first same-sex couple to be married in Georgia’s Fulton County.

The Supreme Court’s decision affirming the right to gay marriage came on a 5-4 vote.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas were the dissenters.

According to UCLA’s Williams Institute, there are an estimated 390,000 married same-sex couples in the United States.

The outcome is the culmination of two decades of Supreme Court litigation over marriage, and gay rights generally.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, just as he did in the court’s previous three major gay rights cases dating back to 1996.

Kennedy wrote that “No union is more profound than marriage.”

Stacey Long Simmons with the National LGBTQ Task Force said there’s a lot of work ahead to ensure equal rights for same-sex couples.

“We’re going to continue to fight for the opportunity to have our rights extended in other arenas, whether it’s housing, employment or healthcare or education,” said Simmons.



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