In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that states can not prevent same-sex couples from marrying and must recognize their marriages from other states. In the majority opinion by Justice Kennedy it is stated:
The Court, in this decision, holds same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry in all States. It follows that the Court also must hold—and it now does hold—that there is no lawful basis for a State to refuse to recognize a lawful same-sex marriage performed in another State on the ground of its same-sex character.
...and:
It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed. It is so ordered.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 26 2015, @06:37PM
I'm honestly happy for this victory, but I'm sad of the way it came about. 5 lawyers who weren't voted for by anyone, took away an entire countries right to decide for itself. Right when the GLBT movement was by large winning its own rights, State by State.
Just like a similar group of unelected lawyers took away an entire country's right to decide for itself about interracial marriages. [wikipedia.org] Right when the civil rights movement was by large winning its own rights, State by State. The damage done by the ruling was epic.