In a landmark ruling for gay rights, the US Supreme Court on June 2015 struck down state bans on same-sex marriage. The decision, which followed the Court’s earlier ruling striking down the federal ban on same-sex marriage, effectively legalized same-sex marriage across the country.
The Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision, explained
In 2015, the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. It was a landmark gay rights ruling.
The Supreme Court’s ruling was years in the making. For years, lower courts had taken up the issue of same-sex marriage, reaching different decisions on whether state bans on same-sex couples marrying were constitutionally permissible. It was one of these cases, Obergefell v. Hodges, that eventually rose up to the country’s highest court and, when consolidated with other related cases, led the Supreme Court to its ruling on the issue.
The Supreme Court was clear: Marriage is a fundamental right, and same-sex couples have that right, just like opposite-sex couples, under the US Constitution. With that, the Supreme Court sealed a major victory for the gay rights movement in America.
