NY TIMES
n a long-sought victory for the gay rights movement, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5-to-4 vote on Friday that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.
“No longer may this liberty be denied,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority in the historic decision. “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.”
Marriage is a “keystone of our social order,” Justice Kennedy said, adding that the plaintiffs in the case were seeking “equal dignity in the eyes of the law.”
The 5-to-4 decision came against the backdrop of fast-moving changes in public opinion, with polls indicating that most Americans now approve of same-sex marriage. No Republican presidential candidate supports allowing same-sex couples to marry, and the differences are largely a matter of how aggressively they will continue to resist.