According to the ABC News website today:
“In a historic decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that gay and lesbian couples across the country have a constitutional right to marry.
The 5-4 decision caps a long and often contentious battle over what many have called the “defining civil rights challenge of our time.”
While the ruling, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, recognizes a centuries-old “understanding” of marriage as “a union between two persons of the opposite sex,” it says “the history of marriage is one of both continuity and change.”
“That institution — even as confined to opposite-sex relations — has evolved over time,” the Supreme Court’s ruling says.
“Today’s decree says that my Ruler, and the Ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast, is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court.”
At least 36 states plus the District of Columbia currently recognize gay marriage in some form. The other states, meanwhile, passed state laws banning same-sex marriage.
Read the full story here: Supreme Court Ends Same Sex Marriage Ban