Gay Marriage for All

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of legalizing Gay Marrage

“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family,”

Justice Anthony Kennedy

Congrats to Jack and George, the first gay couple married in Dallas, TX http://t.co/tf1nunsWPt #pics #reddit pic.twitter.com/Sw59S6Ojpa

— Reddit Subreddits (@subredditsbot) June 26, 2015

The decision was split, a 5-4 ruling with Kennedy, the swing vote, writing for the majority.

Scalia wrote the dissenting opinion. “…by all means celebrate today’s decision. Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. 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.”

President Obama has in the past had this to say in response to questions regarding the constitution: “When you start playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that’s not what America’s about. Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don’t contract them.”

Thousands of couples throughout the country have celebrated this decision by sanctifying their union. You should check out some of those couples here.

Until 2001 no state recognized gay marriage. In 2003 via Lawrence v Texas the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to criminalize sodomy. In this case, John Lawrence and his partner were intimately engaged in their home when police broke into their home and entered their bedroom. They were charged and registered as sex offenders.

In 2004 Massachusetts was the first state to legalize gay marriage.

Prior to today’s decision, 37 states plus the District of Columbia allowed gay marriage.

Prior to this decision, it was difficult if not impossible for gay and lesbian couples to have emergency access to their partners or to adopt children.

According to the Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families, as of 2008 statistics, there were 123,000 orphans in the U.S.