We won! The U.S. Supreme Court has just ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have the right to marry in all states.
Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that “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.”
Here’s the money quote on children:
Without the recognition, stability, and predictability marriage offers, children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser. They also suffer the significant material costs of being raised by unmarried parents, relegated to a more difficult and uncertain family life. The marriage laws at issue thus harm and humiliate the children of same-sex couples. This does not mean that the right to marry is less meaningful for those who do not or cannot have children. Precedent protects the right of a married couple not to procreate, so the right to marry cannot be conditioned on the capacity or commitment to procreate.
I’ll have more on this in the coming days (as will every other news outlet, I’m sure), but for now, celebrate our victory, hug your kids, know that while marriage is a choice, it should be a choice open to all—and remember the battles yet to be won.
Spare a moment to thank everyone who has contributed to this victory, from the plaintiffs (most of whom are parents), to the activists and lawyers who led the charge, to our allies, to those of us who simply found the courage to announce our nuptials to our families or to speak up for marriage equality at the dinner table or in our communities.
My spirits are dampened, however, for I am still thinking of the victims of the terrible church shooting last week in Charleston, South Carolina. So many injustices remain in this world, even as we make progress on others. Let us enjoy this ruling for the milestone that it is, and then get back to work.
