Supreme Court: Same-sex marriage is nationwide right

In a landmark opinion, a divided Supreme Court ruled Friday that states cannot ban same-sex marriage, establishing a new civil right and handing gay rights advocates a victory that until very recently would have seemed unthinkable.
However, Attorney General Buddy Caldwell said not to expect same-sex marriages any time soon in Louisiana.
Caldwell said he found nothing in Friday’s decision that makes the court’s order effective immediately. Therefore, he continued, there is not yet a legal requirement for officials to issue marriage licenses or perform marriages for same-sex couples in Louisiana.
“This Supreme Court decision overturns the will of the people of Louisiana, and it takes away a right that should have been left to the states,” Caldwell said. “Louisiana voters decided overwhelmingly to place in our constitution an amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. I fought to uphold Louisiana’s definition of traditional marriage, and I was the first attorney general in the nation to be successful at the federal court level.”
Legal experts offer different answers as to when same-sex couples will be able to obtain marriage licenses in Louisiana, estimating it could take days or even months after the opinion for same-sex marriages to move forward.
Part of the likely delay is due to the usual questions about interpreting a court decision and the time local and state officials could need to parse the ruling. In addition, though, there is a possible hiccup unique to Louisiana, legal experts say, because this is the only state where a federal district court judge in recent years has upheld a statewide same-sex marriage ban.
In a statement issued by the Diocese of Lafayette, Bishop Michael Jarrell goes so far as to encourage civil disobedience on the part of public officials.
“I realize that this ruling will create conscience problems for many Catholics, especially those in public office,” the bishop said in his press release. I some cases civil disobedience may be a proper response.”
Jarrell urges Catholics not to attend same-sex marriage ceremonies and prohibits the use of any church-owned properties for same-sex marriages.
“No priest or deacon of this diocese may participate in the civil solemnization or celebration of a same-sex marriage. All Catholics are urged not to attend same-sex marriage ceremonies,” he said. “No Catholic facility or property — including but not limited to parishes, missions, chapels, meeting halls, Catholic educational, health or charitable institutions, or facilities belonging to benevolent orders — may be used for the solemnization of same-sex marriages.”
In the 5-4 ruling, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority with the four liberal justices. Each of the four conservative justices wrote their own dissent.
Nearly 46 years to the day after a riot at New York’s Stonewall Inn ushered in the modern gay rights movement, the decision could settle one of the major civil rights fights of this era. The language of Kennedy’s opinion spoke eloquently of the most fundamental values of family, love and liberty.
“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family,” Kennedy wrote. “In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they once were.
“Their hope,” Kennedy continued, “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.”
Kennedy has written the opinion in significant gay rights cases and when he uttered the key sentence that same-sex couples should be able to exercise the right to marry in all states, people in the Court’s public gallery broke into smiles and some wiped tears from their eyes.
In a dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia blasted the Court’s “threat to American democracy.”
“The substance of today’s decree is not of immense personal importance to me,” he wrote. “But what really astounds is the hubris reflected in today’s judicial Putsch.”
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the decision had “nothing to do with the Constitution.”
“If you are among the many Americans — of whatever sexual orientation — who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today’s decision. Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal,” he wrote. “Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits. But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it.”
The U.S. is now the 21st country to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, including territories. Married same-sex couples will now enjoy the same legal rights and benefits as married heterosexual couples nationwide and will be recognized on official documents such as birth and death certificates.
Hundreds of same-sex marriage supporters flooded the plaza and sidewalk in front of the Court to celebrate the ruling, proudly waving rainbow flags and banners with the Human Rights Campaign’s equal sign, which have come to represent the gay rights movement. In an emotional moment, the supporters sang the National Anthem, clapping wildly after singing that the U.S. is “the land of the free.”