Just in time for NYC’s Pride Weekend, we’ve got some great news to share from the Supreme Court. As of Friday’s 5-4 ruling, same sex marriage is legal nationwide. That’s right BUSTies – thanks to Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges, and so many activists before him, the states can no longer deny gay couples the right to marry.
This watershed moment comes on the heels of many smaller victories, but reflects a sea of change in American governance and public attitudes alike.
So release the rainbow confetti and turn on your favorite afternoon jam. This calls for immediate celebration (we’re constitutionally obligated, amirite?).
Justice Anthony Kennedy spoke for the majority, backed up by – you guessed it – the Feminist Justice League: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family,” Kennedy wrote.
“It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage…Their hope 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.”
YAAASSSS, Anthony. According to NBC, the ruling marks the most significance change in marital law since the Court invalidated inter-racial marriage bans in 1967.
Needless to say, that’s a big deal. But for reference: A total of 36 states now allow same sex couples to wed, a swath encompassing about 70 percent of the national population. Moreover, the ruling will also end bans on gay marriage in the remaining 14 states.
The Court’s socially conservative counterparts each dissented, Justice Antonin Scalia calling the decision “a threat to American democracy.”
Luckily, the decision is officially out of his hands. Even President Obama is calling the case ” a victory for America.”
And we wholeheartedly agree.
Images courtesy of Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA and The New York Times
Read more on Bust.com:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Shuts Down Gay Marriage Opponents In Court
4 Photos Of Couples Getting Married In Alabama That Made Us Feel All The Feels
