Republican Presidential candidate Governor Bobby Jindal released
the following statement on the gay marriage ruling issued by the United States
Supreme Court:
Governor Jindal said, "The Supreme Court decision today
conveniently and not surprisingly follows public opinion polls, and tramples on
states' rights that were once protected by the 10th Amendment of the
Constitution. Marriage between a man and a woman was established by God,
and no earthly court can alter that.
This decision will pave the way for an all out assault
against the religious freedom rights of Christians who disagree with this
decision. This ruling must not be used as pretext by Washington to erode our right to religious
liberty.
The government should not force those who have sincerely
held religious beliefs about marriage to participate in these ceremonies. That
would be a clear violation of America's
long held commitment to religious liberty as protected in the First Amendment.
I will never stop fighting for religious liberty and I hope
our leaders in D.C. join me."
Supreme Court clears way for gay marriage nationwide
Declaring that gay unions deserve the equal respect and
dignity under the law, the Supreme Court ruled Friday that same-sex couples
have a constitutional right to marry nationwide without regard to their state's
laws.
The 5-4 opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, will
stand as a landmark in civil rights law and culminates a two-decade long
struggle for gays and lesbians to win marriage equality under the Constitution.
The issue "is not about whether in my judgement, the
institution of marriage should be changed to include same-sex couples. It is
instead about whether, in our democratic republic, that decision should rest
with the people acting through their elected representatives, or with five
lawyers who happen to hold commissions authorizating them to resolve legal
disputes according to law."
The ruling -- which comes almost exactly 46 years to the day
after the Stonewall Inn riots launched the gay-rights movement -- was no
surprise since the justices had stood back in recent months and watched as
federal judges, state courts, lawmakers and voters knocked down the legal
barriers to gay marriages in 37 states.
The Supreme Court voted to take up the issue and decide
finally whether the Constitution's protections for liberty and equality give
gay couples a right to marry.
That surge of support for gay marriage was set off two years
ago when the high court struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act
and said the marriages of same-sex couples deserved equal dignity and respect
under the law.
That decision resolved only a question of federal benefits
for these couples, but its reasoning spurred judges to void a series of state
laws that had limited marriage to a man and a woman. When pressed to defend
their laws, state attorneys had been unable to offer a convincing reason why
committed couples, some of them raising children, should be denied a marriage
license.
Just a decade earlier, most Americans said they strongly
opposed the idea of gay marriage. And beginning in 2004, states across a wide
swath of the nation adopted laws and other measures limiting marriage to a man
and a woman. These laws were seen as a response to a first-in-the-nation
decision that year by the Massachusetts
high court holding that gays and lesbians had a right to marry.
The tide turned, slowly at first and then running strongly
in recent years. Opinion polls registered the remarkable shift. As more states
authorized gay marriages, more and more respondents told pollsters they
approved of the idea of allowing these couples to marry.
The Supreme Court played a role in the shift. In 1996, the
justices struck down an anti-gay initiative from Colorado and said the Constitution does not
allow for singling out gays for unequal treatment. In 2003, the court in
another opinion by Kennedy said gay couples deserve respect and dignity.
Those opinions in turn set the stage for the Massachusetts ruling
that said same-sex couples had a right to marry.
