*** marriage declared legal across the US in historic supreme court ruling

[umbertino]

With 5-4 ruling in Obergefell v Hodges, justices determine right to marriage equality is protected under constitution in decision hailed as ‘victory of love’

 

 

Dan Roberts and Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington

 

Friday 26 June 2015 20.55 BST

 

 

 

Same-sex marriages are now legal across the entirety of the United States after a historic supreme court ruling that declared attempts by conservative states to ban them unconstitutional.

 

In what may prove the most important civil rights case in a generation, five of the nine court justices determined that the right to marriage equality was enshrined under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.

 

Victory in the case – known as Obergefell v Hodges, after an Ohio man who sued the state to get his name listed on his late husband’s death certificate – capped years of campaigning by LGBT rights activists, high-powered attorneys and couples waiting decades for the justices to rule. It immediately led to scenes of jubilation from coast to coast, as campaigners, politicians and everyday people – ***, straight and in-between – hailed “a victory of love”.

 

The ruling, in which Justice Anthony Kennedy cast the deciding vote, means the number of states where *** marriage is legal will rise – albeit after some stalling – from 37 to 50.

 

“They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law,” Kennedy wrote in his opinion for the majority. “The Constitution grants them that right.”

 

Speaking from the White House after calling one of the plaintiffs, Barack Obama said the decision would “end the patchwork system we currently have”.

 

“This ruling is a victory for America,” the president said. “This decision affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts: when all Americans are treated as equal, we are all more free.”

 

Four liberal justices and Kennedy rejected claims made by lawyers during the legal argument in April that marriage was defined by law solely to encourage procreation within stable family units – and therefore could only meaningfully apply to men and women.

 

“The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity,” wrote Kennedy.

 

“The petitioners in these cases seek to find that liberty by marrying someone of the same sex and having their marriages deemed lawful on the same terms and conditions as marriages between persons of the opposite sex,” he added.

 

Crucially, the majority ruling argues that the court has frequently exercised jurisdiction over the definition of marriage in previous cases and is not overstepping its constitutional role by intervening now.

 

“This Court’s cases have expressed constitutional principles of broader reach. In defining the right to marry these cases have identified essential attributes of that right based in history, tradition and other constitutional liberties inherent in this intimate bond,” wrote Kennedy.

 

The crowd outside the court – indeed, across the country – erupted in joy after the ruling was handed down, with many longtime campaigners crying tears of joy and embracing their partners.

 

Chants of “Love has won” reverberated among the hundreds gathered below the court steps and across the street outside the US Capitol, as rainbow flags intertwined with the American flag.

 

Among the crowd was California representative Mark Takano, an openly *** member of Congress who described being at the scene as both “profound and pointed”.

 

“I feel like the supreme court has just thrown a huge wedding bouquet to LGBT people all across the country and couples are going to be rushing to catch that bouquet,” Takano told the Guardian.

 

Takano nonetheless cautioned that there remained legal obstacles ahead, insisting that a comprehensive civil rights act would be required to ensure that LGBT individuals do not face housing and employment discrimination, among other barriers. But he was optimistic that the ruling had set the tone.

 

“The arc of history is quite clear that the struggle for LGBT equality is part of our civil rights,” Takano said.

 

Twenty-two US states and the District of Columbia have LGBT non-discrimination laws on the books – though New Hampshire, New York and Wisconsin do not extend protections to transgender residents. Meanwhile, twenty-eight states, including Alabama, don't offer statewide civil-rights protections against discrimination whatsoever.

 

Judd Proctor, a 65-year-old resident of Silver Spring, Maryland, said he never thought he would live to see the day that *** marriage would be a constitutional right.

 

“When I first met my partner 20 years ago, I never thought there would be marriage. We had a commitment ceremony,” he told the Guardian outside the court.

 

Randy Johnson, a plaintiff in one of the concurrent cases brought from Kentucky before the court with his partner Paul Campion, said he still had goosebumps, hours after their 20-year-old son had texted them two words: “We won.”

 

“As soon as we heard the news, we were obviously in tears, and obviously overcome with emotion because this is the most amazing event we could imagine,” Johnson told the Guardian.

 

Georgia was one of several states that began to issue marriage licenses immediately following the decision. Kathie DeNobriga, the mayor of Atlanta suburb Pine Lake who married her long-term partner out of state last year as one of the few openly *** politicians in the American south, called the court ruling “a victory of love in opposition to fear”.

 

“It was like I was sneaking away to get married,” she said. “Now we all have not the privilege, but a right to get married where we are.”

 

Legal same-sex weddings were taking place for the first time on Friday across Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Tennessee, even as the attorneys general in Texas and Mississippi said marriages could not take place immediately.

 

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton issued a long statement suggesting he would attempt to fight the legalisation of *** marriage by asserting the “religious liberties” of clerks and officials.

 

Louisiana attorney general Buddy Caldwell also released a statement saying that the decision “overturns the will of the people of Louisiana” and that “nothing in today’s decision makes the court’s order effective immediately”.

 

But Mississippi attorney general Jim Hood later backtracked after initially ordering clerks not to issue licenses “immediately”. He subsequently clarified that his office “is certainly not standing in the way of the supreme court’s decision”.

 

Two *** couples waited at the state vital records office in New Orleans to get their marriage licenses. And waited, and waited.

 

Earl Benjamin, 39, and Michael Robinson, 41, arrived moments after the supreme court’s announcement. But they hit a wall of bureaucracy, saying officials told them there would be a delay as they had to reboot the computer system and were “waiting for clearance”.

 

The pair felt that officials were deliberately dragging their heels. “It’s mixed emotions for sure. For us right now it’s become painfully clear that there’s some resistance to us getting a license,” Robinson said, the two clutching flowers and boxes of cupcakes brought by friends who had arrived to congratulate them.

 

Benjamin said it was frustrating to see heterosexual couples arrive and leave with their licenses without any problem, though “each of those couples has come over to us and said congratulations.”

 

The couple, who have been together 14 years, were willing to wait all day. But in the early afternoon, after they had been sitting in the office for four-and-a-half hours, they were told by an official that the state would not be issuing marriage licenses today as it waits for a ruling by the federal fifth circuit appeals court, which also took up the issue. That will be a formality given the supreme court’s decision.

 

“We’re still excited but we’re also a bit saddened that we weren’t able to get our license today,” Benjamin said after leaving the office. “You become accustomed to discrimination, you come to expect it … We’re going to be looking forward to marrying each other soon.”

 

Every summer Friday, the Wayne County clerk’s office in Detroit holds mass wedding ceremonies to accommodate the seasonal increase in marriages. On Friday, that included same-sex marriages, though the county clerk’s office didn’t have a specific number just before it closed for the day.

 

“There’s really been nothing different, we’ve just been handling things like we do every business day,” said Jina Sawani, a spokesperson for the office.

 

Starting on Monday, mass weddings will be held at the office every weekday at 3pm.

 

In a nod to an argument colorfully expressed by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during the hearing, the ruling also rejects the notion that the state definition of marriage rests on the ability of couples to procreate.

 

“That is not to say the right to marry is less meaningful for those who do not or cannot have children,” writes Kennedy, after pointing out the advantages for children of same-sex couples. “An ability, desire, or promise to procreate is not and has not been a prerequisite for a valid marriage in any State.”

 

And in perhaps the most sweeping section of the lengthy ruling, Kennedy rejected the concern expressed by chief justice John Roberts that the court should not get too far ahead of traditional conceptions of marriage that are limited to a man and a woman.

 

“The right to marry is fundamental as a matter of history and tradition, but rights come not from ancient sources,” writes Kennedy. “They rise, too, from a better informed understanding of how constitutional imperatives define a liberty that remains urgent in our own era.”

 

In one of four separate dissents, Roberts attacked the decision, arguing: “This Court is not a legislature. Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us. Under the Constitution, judges have power to say what the law is, not what it should be.”

 

But the five justices in the majority argued that depriving them of marriage equality “serve[d] to disrespect and subordinate” *** and lesbian people.

 

“It is now clear that the challenged laws burden the liberty of same-sex couples, and it must be further acknowledged that they abridge central precepts of equality,” they argued. “Especially against a long history of disapproval of their relationships, this denial to same-sex couples of the right to marry works a grave and continuing harm.”

 

Lawyers advising couples looking to take advantage of the historic ruling warned that it could take some time for states to react.

 

“Uniform implementation of the ruling state by state will undoubtedly take time,” said Robert Stanley, a partner in Beverly Hills family law firm Jaffe and Clemens. “Certainly, some states are expected to rebel and stall implementation as long as possible.”

 

The nation’s highest tribunal last weighed marriage equality in 2012, with challenges to California’s effective ban on same-sex marriages, known as Proposition 8, and a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (Doma).

 

The justices then ruled in favor of marriage equality proponents, but ducked the question of whether *** marriage was a constitutional right.

 

Roberta Kaplan, the lawyer who successfully argued the Doma case, said “there is nothing” in Friday’s ruling that she was concerned about that could lead to major legal challenges.

 

“This is the pinnacle of our success so far,” she told the Guardian. “It is hard for me to see now that any court, anywhere, state or federal, could possibly tolerate discrimination against *** people on any basis.”

 

The rulings nonetheless kicked off a wave of decisions among courts across the country that struck down state-level bans on same-sex marriage and accelerated a trend that has seen the number of states allowing such weddings soar from just two in 2008, to all 50 in 2015 – plus the District of Columbia, from where a national celebration was only beginning on Friday morning.

 

The US becomes the 21st country to recognise same-sex marriage across the country.

 

“Love is love,” Obama said.

• Additional reporting by Alan Yuhas and Nicky Woolf in New York, Steven W Thrasher in Buffalo, New York, George Chidi in Atlanta, Rory Carroll in San Francisco, Amanda Holpuch in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Tom Dart in New Orleans

 

 

 

 

 

Rainbow lights shone on the White House to celebrate Friday’s US supreme court ruling.

Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

 

 

 

The scene outside the supreme court on Friday was pure joy. Photograph: Evan Golub/Demotix/Corbis

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/26/***-marriage-legal-supreme-court

 

[haymon]

I need another country to live in......

[Nelg]

A sad day for the world as the U.S.A. has openly declared that the laws of mankind overrule the laws of God; that hedonism is preferred over holiness.  

The immoral nature of the human appetite has scored a victory.  But the passing of a law making an immoral situation legal does not make it morally acceptable.

Marriage of one man and one woman is the only morally union accepted by God.  The passing of this law is just another step toward the cliff of the nation's destruction.  Yes, it is a sad day for the nation.   

[Thaiexpat]

Yeah, look at the utter double-speaking coming from the dissenting views in USSC. Really? "This Court is not a legislature...". Could have fooled with your Obamcare decision.

Listen, for all those simple-minded, buffoons, if you think this is about 2 dudes/gals getting married, please just stop voting and engaging in the body polics, because you are clearly incapable of any thoughts outside of your limited upbringing.

This is about a destruction of States-rights even further than already experienced by the States. If you think this is a victory for "G-A-Y" rights, etc, you are plainly put an idiot. Along with the other ruling about OBummer Care, you have a Court defining a law-the job of the legislature. This is about losing a part of the 3-part system of government, but even worst, the very idea that the STATE can control any aspect of your life. I don't care what you think the union ought to be. That is a total distraction to the real issue. The very idea that the State can make something legal or illegal, in which, they have no business in sticking their fascist-nose into to begin with is the issue. Don't like to see a man marry a man? Don't marry your BF then, fool.

The people to blame are those you see in the mirror. Still supporting the system are you? Still believe there is a difference between a REPULICAT and a DEMOCRIN? Really? That stupid to actually think government cares what you think/feel? This whole "bread and circus show" matters beyond keeping you distracted from REAL issues, which, of course, you are incapable of comprehending because your 2 brain cells are already over-loaded.

Yes, good luck to you all. I left years ago because I saw the reality of the situation and it made me sick to my stomach. So-call "real Americans".......No, thanks I will take my chances overseas...

 

For the record, this post is NOT in response to any prior posts listed. It is in relationship to the article ONLY. So relax.....Dunno, just saying......

I need another country to live in......

Here is a nice place. People MIND their OWN BUSINESS

Have to warn you, however, I think 40% of the guys are playing on the same team!

I don't mind, gives me more chances with the ladies!

[Nelg]

Yeah, look at the utter double-speaking coming from the dissenting views in USSC. Really? "This Court is not a legislature...". Could have fooled with your Obamcare decision.

Listen, for all those simple-minded, buffoons, if you think this is about 2 dudes/gals getting married, please just stop voting and engaging in the body polics, because you are clearly incapable of any thoughts outside of your limited upbringing.

This is about a destruction of States-rights even further than already experienced by the States. If you think this is a victory for "G-A-Y" rights, etc, you are plainly put an idiot. Along with the other ruling about OBummer Care, you have a Court defining a law-the job of the legislature. This is about losing a part of the 3-part system of government, but even worst, the very idea that the STATE can control any aspect of your life. I don't care what you think the union ought to be. That is a total distraction to the real issue. The very idea that the State can make something legal or illegal, in which, they have no business in sticking their fascist-nose into to begin with is the issue. Don't like to see a man marry a man? Don't marry your BF then, fool.

The people to blame are those you see in the mirror. Still supporting the system are you? Still believe there is a difference between a REPULICAT and a DEMOCRIN? Really? That stupid to actually think government cares what you think/feel? This whole "bread and circus show" matters beyond keeping you distracted from REAL issues, which, of course, you are incapable of comprehending because your 2 brain cells are already over-loaded.

Yes, good luck to you all. I left years ago because I saw the reality of the situation and it made me sick to my stomach. So-call "real Americans".......No, thanks I will take my chances overseas...

 

For the record, this post is NOT in response to any prior posts listed. It is in relationship to the article ONLY. So relax.....Dunno, just saying......

Here is a nice place. People MIND their OWN BUSINESS

Have to warn you, however, I think 40% of the guys are playing on the same team!

I don't mind, gives me more chances with the ladies!

a.k.a. the Civil War.  The Civil War freed the slaves of both North and South, but the war was fought over states rights.  

 

I certainly have a concern for what these decisions are doing to the branches of government and the control that is being lost by the states; that is destructive to the foundations of our capacity to govern.  But the abuse is founded on the moral fabric within those who hold the seats of political power.  Truly the moral and ethical direction of their life is reflected in the deteriorating character and lack of concern for moral principles.  Morality is a fixed position based in the character of God.  He is the declarer of what is and what is not moral and acceptable to Him. To think that morality is a side issue or irrelevant in this decision and in all decision of a moral nature is shouting that we do not want God to rule over us.  That WE have a the right to act in any way we choose with a total disregard for the moral precepts established by our Creator is rebellion against God and will not go unnoticed by Him.  Our sins are mounting and we, as a people, are racing toward a time when God will bring judgment against us.  

Again, it is a sad day for America and the world.    

[thegente]

Listen, for all those simple-minded, buffoons, if you think this is about 2 dudes/gals getting married, please just stop voting and engaging in the body polics, because you are clearly incapable of any thoughts outside of your limited upbringing.

This is about a destruction of States-rights even further than already experienced by the States. If you think this is a victory for "G-A-Y" rights, etc, you are plainly put an idiot.

Ya hit the nail on the head Thai, I've been trying to drill this into people's heads the last 24hrs on both sides of the argument, but they're either too blinded by their hatred/or bliss to listen. The govt, media, and public education really have done a number on dumbing down Americans....

[Jim1cor13]

Yeah, look at the utter double-speaking coming from the dissenting views in USSC. Really? "This Court is not a legislature...". Could have fooled with your Obamcare decision.

Listen, for all those simple-minded, buffoons, if you think this is about 2 dudes/gals getting married, please just stop voting and engaging in the body polics, because you are clearly incapable of any thoughts outside of your limited upbringing.

This is about a destruction of States-rights even further than already experienced by the States. If you think this is a victory for "G-A-Y" rights, etc, you are plainly put an idiot. Along with the other ruling about OBummer Care, you have a Court defining a law-the job of the legislature. This is about losing a part of the 3-part system of government, but even worst, the very idea that the STATE can control any aspect of your life. I don't care what you think the union ought to be. That is a total distraction to the real issue. The very idea that the State can make something legal or illegal, in which, they have no business in sticking their fascist-nose into to begin with is the issue. Don't like to see a man marry a man? Don't marry your BF then, fool.

The people to blame are those you see in the mirror. Still supporting the system are you? Still believe there is a difference between a REPULICAT and a DEMOCRIN? Really? That stupid to actually think government cares what you think/feel? This whole "bread and circus show" matters beyond keeping you distracted from REAL issues, which, of course, you are incapable of comprehending because your 2 brain cells are already over-loaded.

Yes, good luck to you all. I left years ago because I saw the reality of the situation and it made me sick to my stomach. So-call "real Americans".......No, thanks I will take my chances overseas...

 

For the record, this post is NOT in response to any prior posts listed. It is in relationship to the article ONLY. So relax.....Dunno, just saying......

Here is a nice place. People MIND their OWN BUSINESS

Have to warn you, however, I think 40% of the guys are playing on the same team!

I don't mind, gives me more chances with the ladies!

 

Thank you Do, well stated.

 

Most of this country are now so dependent upon the gov. beast, it is at a point

where they can do just about anything and know they will get away with it.

 

We have been swallowed up by a system to the point where too many care not

any longer. Just the way the game is played, but the real news is located in the 

other direction. All the drama is a distraction, gets the people worked up, while

the criminals continue their game. States rights are virtually non existent at this

time, and so few noticed.

Ya hit the nail on the head Thai, I've been trying to drill this into people's heads the last 24hrs on both sides of the argument, but they're either too blinded by their hatred/or bliss to listen. The govt, media, and public education really have done a number on dumbing down Americans....

 

Thank you thegente. I also had a conversation last night while helping a friend

with some business related matters. Of course the discussion became heated,

with all the bitter comments, etc. I finally just changed to another topic. The 

game being played works, while everyone fights among themselves, the REAL

point of focus is gone. Works every time to keep the masses divided, and ignoring

all else.

Edited June 27, 2015 by Jim1cor13

[Thaiexpat]

As always, the usual people get it and the usual people don't. It is really so sad that an adult is incapable to critical analyses, yet is allowed to vote in the system which destroys/enslaves us. Maybe Plato was right. God forbid! hahahah

Yep, what I see in the news feeds are bliss and anger. Those claiming some moral high-ground verse those who want recognition of their rights in being G-A-Y.

Everyone should be crying/angry over the destruction of their LIBERTIES, but, as a whole, people in the US are idiots. Well, the PTB have gotten what they want and YOU ALL gave it to them on a silver platter.

Again, G-A-Y folks didn't destroy America: YOU DID. (The collective You is what I referring to) Don't blame someone else for throwing liberty away. Don't blame someone else for engaging in a system that enslaves you. Don't blame other's "moral decline" for your "sheep mentality". Don't blame anyone for being a SLAVE. You walked right into the cage. Enjoy the show! I heard September of this year might be interesting time in the US.

[Thaiexpat]

For another analysis of the "screw job" (no pun intended) on the REAL issue, see Karl Denniger's market-ticker.org.

He explains quite well on how we ALL got screwed and whose to blame.

Government has NO REASON to be involved in this at all.

[Nelg]

Civil law, political decisions, court mandates, personal freedoms, popular acceptance, and character choices removed from the moral and ethical foundations established by God are pretenses and fatally weak.  Those who stand for right and moral choices to be made are not ignorant, blinded, and sheepish followers that can be easily misdirected from the real issue.  We do understand and know what the real issues are.  

But here is the kicker for some of you . . . the real is not a political one, it is a moral and biblical one . . . . seeking their own pleasures and power, leaders are forgetting God, Once there is a return to God there will be wiser decisions made by them and stupid reasoning will be left to the politicians.

[Nelg]

Ok, I was on the phone while trying to complete the last paragraph.  Last sentence should read

 

....Once there is a return to God there will be wiser decisions made by them.  Stupid reasoning will be left to the politicians who have forgotten God.  

[Yukon Silvermoon]

Thank the Lord that we are one step closer to treating everyone like human beings. I'll pray for all of you whose false witnesses continue to divide the country I love. Jesus came back to this earth and banished the law of Leviticus. If you actually read your Bible, you'd know that.

[MyLadiesDaddy]

Thank the Lord that we are one step closer to treating everyone like human beings. I'll pray for all of you whose false witnesses continue to divide the country I love. Jesus came back to this earth and banished the law of Leviticus. If you actually read your Bible, you'd know that.

 

What are you, a Methodist?     

 

And before you get mad, it was just a joke. 

[Yukon Silvermoon]

But I'll lighten the mood for you guys.  Here's a feel good story that's sure to put a smile on your faces.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/16/new-mexico-***-suicide_n_3606614.html

[haymon]

I must want to swear!!!!!!!and cry................

[yota691]

adding a post I read....

A man can put on a dress and call himself a woman, but that doesn't make it true. Two people of the same sex can have a ceremony and call themselves married, but that doesn't make it true either.

God created sexes - "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27.

God established marriage - "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh." Genesis 2:24

In a world where 'reality' and 'truth' shift with every individual's whim or perception, the Word of God stands unchanged - THE source of Absolute Truth.

The truth is still the truth, even if no one believes it; and a lie is still a lie, even if everyone believes it.

 

 

[Nelg]

Thank the Lord that we are one step closer to treating everyone like human beings. I'll pray for all of you whose false witnesses continue to divide the country I love. Jesus came back to this earth and banished the law of Leviticus. If you actually read your Bible, you'd know that.

Jesus "abolished" the law, which is different from "banished."  The Law was to keep the seed line from being destroyed because of the sinfulness of man.  It was used until Jesus came.  But that did not mean that it is of no value today.  We would not have known sin had the law said that we "should not covet" or that sexual relations with anyone outside of marriage, "fornication," and that sexual relations between the same sex was sinful.  

It is also needed to teach us about the history of salvation from eternity to eternity, the history of the way God deals with individuals and nations who sin, the prophecies of the Messiah, and the establishment of the promises of God to all mankind. Those principles and eternal laws are repeated in the New Covenant.  We are NT saints and not OT saints.  We no longer offer animal sacrifices for sin, but Jesus Christ fulfilled all the sacrifices of the OT.  He is the one and only sacrifice for sin.  He abolished works as a means for coming to God and declared that by His grace, Christ's sacrifice, that He would save mankind.  All those who trust in Christ by and through faith in Him will receive forgiveness of sin, even the sin of homosexual relationships between consenting same sex couples, but only if they repent of that sin.  

His grace is called LOVE and not hate.  And the recognition of sin in someone is not a recognition of hate, but of love.  Whoever told you that the rejection of sin is "hate" knows nothing of grace, love, nor mercy.  Run from them as quickly as possible.