Marriage a Right for Same-Sex Couples in U.S. Supreme Court Decision

UPDATED at 2:05 p.m.

In a 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, same-sex marriage will be legal nationwide, and the lead plaintiff in the history-making case was married in Maryland.

The decision was authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was joined by the four more liberal judges.

According to the decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, “The Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-State.”

Maryland voters approved a referendum in November 2012 that allowed same-sex marriage in the state. Marriages began in Maryland in January 2013.

President Barack Obama on Friday congratulated Jim Obergefell, the real estate developer who became the face of the consolidated face after Ohio officials denied him the right to put his name on the death certificate of his spouse. The two had legally married in Maryland before his husband died of ALS disease.

Obama said Obergefell’s leadership will bring about lasting change in this country.”

Obergefell told the president he has been honored to have been part of the fight, and to “live up to my commitments to my husband.”

“So I appreciate, I appreciate everything you’ve done for the LGBT community and it’s really an honor to have become part of that fight,” Obergefell said.

An impossible act 12 years ago, same-sex marriage now exists in 37 states, primarily due to a wave of court decisions, along with the actions of a handful of state legislators and voter referendums.

The key victory came in a Supreme Court decision in 2013. In a 5-4 decision, the justices struck down portions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The decision didn’t address equality nationwide, but the reasoning used by the court would be applied again and again in lower court decisions that overturned state bans.

In October 2014, the Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from same-sex marriage opponents in five states, paving the way for nuptials in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin, and eventually ending bans in Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming.

That move by the justices was largely seen as the first indication that the Supreme Court was prepared to address the marriage issue. In January, the justices announced they would consider the 6th District case where the appeals court upheld same-sex marriage bans in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.

Today’s ruling comes during a time of historic support for same-sex-marriage. American’s attitudes have shifted swiftly and dramatically in the last decade, according to public opinion polls. Only 27 percent of Americans thought gay marriage should be legal when the Gallup Poll began posing the question in 1996; last month, support had soared to 60 percent, up from 55 percent just a year ago.

Maryland Reaction

Gay marriage was approved by Maryland voters in November 2012, supported by then-Gov. O’Malley, now a Democratic candidate for president. The law took effect Jan. 1, 2013, making Maryland the first state south of the Mason-Dixon line to extend marriage equality to gay couples.

Former Gov. Martin O’Malley, who signed Maryland’s marriage equality bill into law, said on Twitter: “So grateful to the people of MD for leading the way on this important issue of human dignity and equality under the law. …There’s no greater human right than love. What a day for our country.”

U.S. Senator Ben Cardin echoed the refrain used by supporters of marriage equality: “ Love is love. … In 2013, the justices struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Only two years later, an incredible 70 percent of Americans live in a state where loving, same-sex couples can enjoy all the legal rights and responsibilities of marriage. I look forward to seeing that number jump quickly so that all loving couples will be respected under the law throughout our nation.”

Congressman Chris Van Hollen from Montgomery County called the Supreme Court’s ruling monumental in this statement:

“… The blood, sweat, and tears of generations of gay Americans and their allies who never gave up the fight for equality will be remembered as same-sex couples take their long-awaited vows. All of us are created equal - and that includes our ability to love and our right to pursue happiness with the person of our choosing. Today’s ruling finally affirms that truth for Americans in every one of our great United States.”

»Patch Editor Beth Dalbey contributed to this story.

Photo: Flickr/CreativeCommons/Ted Eytan; video of Jim Obergefell from YouTube