Supreme Court declares gay marriage legal across US
A demonstrator protests against gay marriage in front of the US Supreme Court building on June 23, 2015 in Washington, DC. (AFP photo)
The Supreme Court has declared same-sex marriages legal across the entirety of the United States.
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court termed on Friday morning attempts by conservative states to ban gay marriage unconstitutional.
Five of the nine court justices ruled that the right to marriage equality was enshrined under the 14th amendment, striking down bans in over a dozen states.
The ruling means the number of states where same-sex marriage is legal will jump from 37 states to all 50.
Anthony Kennedy, a conservative justice, casted the deciding vote, siding with the court’s four liberals to strike down the ban.
The justices rejected an argument presented by lawyers that marriage was defined by law solely to encourage procreation within stable family units, and therefore the definition of marriage could only apply to men and women.
“The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity,” Kennedy wrote in his opinion for the majority.
Ever since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court legalized same-sex marriage 12 years ago in 2003, a total of 36 states, along with the District of Columbia, have legalized such marriages, most of them through court rulings.
The population of the states that support same-sex marriage comprises some 70 percent of Americans.
Experts believe that forcing the decision of the Supreme Court as the ultimate arbiter on an issue that has been already decided by the people and their elected state representatives in several states is not constitutionally correct.
Critics have repeatedly said that the same-sex marriage will lead to the disintegration of family institution and sanctity of marriage.
They say the same-sex marriage is against the nature of human beings and all divine religions define marriage as the union between one man and one woman.
Commenting to Press TV on Friday, Mark Dankof, a political commentator and Lutheran pastor in San Antonio, Texas, said the controversial Supreme Court ruling made him very angry.
“Not only the content of this decision, but the way the Supreme Court invented a constitutional right that does not exist, and overthrew the doctrine of the original intent of the Founders, existing state laws, natural law, and British Common Law as the original basis of American jurisprudence (British Common Law was based on Christianity),” he said.
“This was the case in the Roe v Wade decision in 1973 also. And it should not be ignored that the victories for abortion on demand and LGBT rights are reflective of the disproportionate influence of Jewish power, money, and activism in the United States, freely acknowledged by Vice President Joe Biden in Haaretz recently,” Dankof stated.
“The key Jewish role played in the mainstreaming of abortion, LGBT, and pornography in the United States may be documented in Google search, especially in looking at the Frankfurt School and its Institute for Social Research,” he added.
“The provable Jewish role in destroying the older Christian cultures of the United States and Europe is now a dagger pointed at the Islamic World and the revival of Eastern Orthodox culture in Russia,” the analyst noted.
“I believe Russian President Putin understands this, and will resist the cultural, economic, and military coercion of the Anglo-American-Zionist Empire with all of his country’s national resources and will,” he observed.
“I believe Mr. Putin is a key ingredient in destroying this global threat, and restoring cultural integrity and national sovereignty to his country, and providing a model for defeating the Zionist agenda globally,” he concluded.
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