WASHINGTON: In landmark rulings for gay rights, the US Supreme Court struck down a law denying federal benefits to homosexual couples and cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California.
Cheers rang out on both coasts among gay marriage supporters after the historic decisions Wednesday, with a large crowd celebrating outside the Supreme Court in Washington and thousands rejoicing in San Francisco and New York.
The nine justices however stopped short of explicitly legalising same-sex marriage nationwide.
In a 5-4 decision, the court first struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal benefits to married gay and lesbian couples by strictly defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
“DOMA is unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment” of the Constitution, read the majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy.
President Barack Obama, currently travelling in Africa, hailed the decision. “We are a people who declared that we are all created equal – and the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” he said in a statement.
DOMA denied married gay and lesbians a raft of federal benefits that straight couples take for granted, from tax breaks to family hospital visits and the ability to sponsor a spouse for a residence visa.
The court also said a case on Proposition 8, a 2008 California voter initiative prohibiting same-sex marriage in the nation’s most populous state, was improperly brought before them.
That 5-4 decision enabled the justices to dodge the thorny issue of whether same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, and means that gay marriages will likely resume in California.
Twelve US states plus the District of Columbia now recognize same-sex marriage, but about 30 states have decreed that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman.
“Now we will be married and be equal to every other family in California,” said Kris Perry, a plaintiff in the Proposition 8 case, alongside her partner Sandy Stier on the Supreme Court steps. — AFP