Victory in Supreme Court For Same-Sex Marriage [VIDEO]
In one of two Supreme Court rulings on same-sex marriage on Wednesday, a divided Supreme Court ruled 5-4, striking down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which defines marriage as between one man and woman and denied legally married same-sex couples federal benefits. The second Supreme Court ruling dealt with California’s Proposition 8.
FOX News Radio’s Jared Halpern reports from the United States Supreme Court:
After a sigh of relief over the overturning of DOMA some in the gay community along with the West Hollywood City Council here, scanned the Prop 8 decision. When they realized the ruling meant supporters of the ban had no standing to argue the case in court in the first place…
(Crowd) “So I think we can cheer…. Prop 8 is dead! Yay!!”
Supporters of the ban say they’ll continue to ask that Prop 8 be enforced until a binding state order reverses it. In a little more than three weeks, officials here are expected to start to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
In West Hollywood, Jessica Rosenthal, FOX News Radio.
READ a statement by the President on the Supreme Court Ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act:
“I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act. This was discrimination enshrined in law. It treated loving, committed gay and lesbian couples as a separate and lesser class of people. The Supreme Court has righted that wrong, and our country is better off for it. We are a people who declared that we are all created equal – and the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.
This ruling is a victory for couples who have long fought for equal treatment under the law; for children whose parents’ marriages will now be recognized, rightly, as legitimate; for families that, at long last, will get the respect and protection they deserve; and for friends and supporters who have wanted nothing more than to see their loved ones treated fairly and have worked hard to persuade their nation to change for the better.
So we welcome today’s decision, and I’ve directed the Attorney General to work with other members of my Cabinet to review all relevant federal statutes to ensure this decision, including its implications for Federal benefits and obligations, is implemented swiftly and smoothly.
On an issue as sensitive as this, knowing that Americans hold a wide range of views based on deeply held beliefs, maintaining our nation’s commitment to religious freedom is also vital. How religious institutions define and consecrate marriage has always been up to those institutions. Nothing about this decision – which applies only to civil marriages – changes that.
The laws of our land are catching up to the fundamental truth that millions of Americans hold in our hearts: when all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.”
