America
US top court upholds same-sex marriage nationwide
By
By Arun Kumar Washington, June 26
In a landmark judgement,
the US Supreme Court ruled on Friday that gays can marry nationwide and
states cannot ban same-sex marriage - an issue that divides America and
India.
The 5-4 ruling giving LGBT rights activists their biggest
victory came after decades of litigation and fast-changing public
opinion that saw President Barack Obama to come out in support of same
sex marriage three years ago.
His administration supported the challengers to the gay marriage bans in the apex court.
Unlike
India, where homosexuality is criminalised, same-sex couples can marry
in 36 US states today, but federal appeals courts have been divided over
whether states must allow same-sex couples to marry and recognize such
marriages performed elsewhere.
The 14 same-sex couples and two
widowers who challenged gay marriage bans in Michigan, Tennessee,
Kentucky and Ohio were just a few of the estimated 650,000 same-sex
couples in the US, 125,000 of whom are raising children.
Lawyers
for the four states argued their bans were justified by tradition and
the distinctive characteristics of opposite-sex unions.
The issue, they said should be resolved democratically, at the polls and in state legislatures, rather than by judges.
The
challengers included same-sex couples who wanted to marry, those who
sought to have their lawful out-of-state marriage recognized, as well as
those who wanted to amend a birth or death certificate with their
marriage status.
"No union is more profound than marriage, for it
embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and
family," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy for the majority with four
liberal justices.
"In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they once were," he added
In a dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia blasted the court's "threat to American democracy."
"The
substance of today's decree is not of immense personal importance to
me," he wrote. "But what really astounds is the hubris reflected in
today's judicial Putsch."
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])