Decades of lobbying and civil rights activism have finally come to fruition in a historic Supreme Court equal marriage decision, as marriage between gay couples was approved as a right on a federal level, which is to say that LGBT people from all over the United States can now legally marry.
In a major victory for the LGBT movement following years fighting towards gay marriage becoming an all-encompassing reality throughout the nation, the Supreme Court equal marriage decision classifies civil unions of all types as a constitutional right, invalidating all bans throughout the country.
According to The New York Times, the Supreme Court equal marriage ruling was a very close call in 5-4, as the top court in the land issued a decision saying that the Fourteenth Amendment means that each state must license marriage licenses between two people regardless of their sex, thus directly approving equal marriage as a federal right.
The Guardian reports that it was Justice Anthony Kennedy that cast the deciding vote in the historic Supreme Court equal marriage ruling, as the ruling represents that the number of states where equal marriage is legal has just increased from 37 to a total of 50.
The Supreme Court equal marriage ruling came after much discussion, as such: in favor, Justices Kennedy, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ruth Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, with Justices John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas against the ruling in the minority opinion.
According to Business Insider, for Justice Kennedy, there were five primary reasons to legalize equal marriage:
1. The right to choice of partner is inherent to "individual autonomy."
2. The right to marry is fundamental.
3. The right to marry safeguards children and families and comes directly with rights like those of procreation and education.
4. Marriage is the "keystone of the nation's social order."
"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family," reads Kennedy's closing paragraph in the Supreme Court equal marriage decision, which has gone viral. "In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. 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. Since the ruling came out, Kennedy's closing paragraph has become viral."
Since the decision was published, Perez Hilton reports that a number of celebrities have taken to celebrate on social media, including Ellen DeGeneres, Anna Kendrick, One Direction singer Harry Styles and "Scandal" actress Kerry Washington among many others, besides Barack Obama.
The White House has changed its Twitter profile picture to celebrate the occasion.
#LoveWins. pic.twitter.com/s5aiwIsFz8
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 26, 2015
