Supreme Court: Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Unconstitutional

The Supreme Court announced its decision Wednesday that the Defense of Marriage Act — a law barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages — is unconstitutional and violates the Fifth Amendment.

In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy called the federal statute invalid, adding that the law "for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity. By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment.” Click to read the full text of the ruling.

Congressman Bill Foster (D-11) praised the court's decision to strike down the statute, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996.

“My father was a civil rights lawyer, and I was raised with a strong belief that all people deserve equal rights and protection under the law,” Foster said in a statement released Wednesday morning. “That is why I am pleased to see that the Supreme Court has upheld the ideals of our Constitution and struck down DOMA. While this is truly a historic day for members of the LGBT community across the country, we must continue to do everything possible to ensure equal rights for all of our citizens.  I will continue to stand with the LGBT community in their struggle for equality, because everyone -- no matter who they are, where they came from, or who they love – deserve equal rights under the law.”

Suzanne Anderson-Hurdle, pastor of Good Shepherd Church in Romeoville and an outspoken gay rights activist, said she was ecstatic about the decision on Wednesday.

"I am thrilled," she said. "It's also bittersweet because our Illinois brothers and sisters can't celebrate with the others," Anderson-Hurdle added, referring to the Illinois legislature's failure to take action on a bill that would legalize gay marriage during its last legislative session.

Anderson-Hurdle said she hopes the Supreme Court's decision will spur Illinois lawmakers into action. 

"This may change things," she said. "It's going to be really hard [for legislators] to pass discriminatory laws."

In Chicago, LGBT groups were planning to celebrate the ruling and to push Illinois legislators to legalize gay marriage with a Wednesday night rally at Halsted and Roscoe.

The decision is a win for gay rights activists, who scored another victory Wednesday as the high court also voted 5-4 that Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in the state of California, is also unconstitutional.

Do you agree with the Supreme Court's decision? Tell us in the comments.