On Friday the Supreme Court of the United States announced its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. The majority (Justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan) held that the Due Process Clause of the 5th Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment guarantee marriage equality for same-sex couples in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories of the United States. The USA is now one of 21 countries with nationwide marriage equality.
The ruling determines that civil marriage is a civil right, but the willfully ignorant continue to wet their panties over religious rites, as if this matter of legal licensure breaches the Church/State divide. It doesn’t. Clergy can still wed who they will.
“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,” wrote Justice Kennedy in the majority opinion.
President Obama’s reaction: “There is 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.”
More:
“Supreme Court Ruling Makes Same-Sex Marriage a Right Nationwide,” Adam Liptak, New York Times
“Read the best part of the Supreme Court ruling for gay marriage,” Quartz
“Photos: Crowd reacts outside the Supreme Court after marriage equality ruling,” Corinne Segal, PBS NewsHour
“Companies celebrate the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling,” Jocob Bogage, Washington Post
“Antonin Scalia Dissent In Marriage Equality Case Is Even More Unhinged Than You’d Think,” Ryan Grim and Arthur Delaney, Huffington Post
“The Craziest Lines in Every Dissenting Gay Marriage Opinion,” Andy Cush, Gawker
“A Brief History Of Gay Rights At The Supreme Court,” Oliver Roeder, FiveThirtyEight
“God and Marriage Equality,” Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker
Related:
“5 facts about same-sex marriage,” David Masci and Seth Motel, Pew Research Center
“Why companies are speaking up about gay marriage,” Jacob Bogage , Washington Post
“Is the Supreme Court more liberal? Or are the cases more conservative?” Ezra Klein, Vox
“Change Doesn’t Usually Come This Fast,” Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight
“Here’s Where the Rainbow Flag Came From,” Emily Dreyfuss, Wired
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