US President Barack Obama hailed the Supreme Court ruling in favour of gay marriage Friday, saying it shows social changes once thought impossible can become reality.
“Today we can say in no uncertain terms that we've made our union a little more perfect,” Obama said in a White House address shortly after the court issued its decision.
“It's a victory for the allies and friends and supporters who spent years, even decades working and praying for change to come. And this ruling is a victory for America.”
The Supreme Court ruling that the constitution protects the right of all Americans in all states to form same-sex marriages was a victory for gay rights campaigners.
But it will also be seen as a success for Obama, whose own position shifted between his first presidential campaign and his second, and who now supports marriage equality.
“This ruling is a victory for Jim Obergefell and the other plaintiffs in this case,” Obama said, referring to one of the people who brought the case all the way to the high court.
“It's a victory for gay and lesbian couples who fought so long for their basic civil rights. It's a victory for their children whose families will now be recognised as equal to any other,” he said.
“This decision affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts, when all Americans are treated as equal, we are all more free.”
But he also asked Americans to be “mindful” of those who do not approve of gay marriage.
“I know that Americans of goodwill continue to hold a wide range of views on this issue. Opposition in some cases has been based on sincere and deeply held beliefs. All of us who welcome today's news should be mindful of that fact,” he said.
Key events in the history of US gay rights
Here is a look at some key events in the history of gay rights in the United States.
1950
The Mattachine Society, considered the first national US gay rights organisation, is founded in Los Angeles.
1958
The US Supreme Court, in the case One, Inc. v. Olesen, backs the free-speech rights of a gay magazine after US postal officials and the FBI labelled it obscene and prohibited its mail distribution. It is seen as the first gay rights case before the Supreme Court.
1961
Illinois becomes the first state to decriminalise sodomy.
1969
Police raids at the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, trigger violent protests in a seminal moment in the gay rights movement.
1977
Singer and Christian conservative Anita Bryant spearheads a campaign in Florida's Dade County leading to the repeal of a local ordinance barring anti-gay discrimination.
1978
Gay rights champion Harvey Milk of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors is shot dead along with Mayor George Moscone by a former city supervisor who is later cleared of murder charges, being convicted instead on lesser charges.
1982
Wisconsin becomes the first state to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
1986
The US Supreme Court, in the case Bowers v. Hardwick, upholds a Georgia sodomy law, ruling consenting adults have no constitutional right to engage in homosexual acts even in private.
1987
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators march in Washington, faulting President Ronald Reagan's response to the AIDS epidemic and demanding more federal money for AIDS research and treatment. The US AIDS epidemic in the 1980s disproportionately involved gay men.
1996
The US Supreme Court, in the case Romer v. Evans, throws out a Colorado measure approved by voters that denied gays protections against discrimination.
1997
In a pivotal popular culture moment, the main character in Ellen DeGeneres' sitcom comes out as gay, just as the comedian herself had done.
2000
The US Supreme Court, in the case Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, decides the Boy Scouts can bar gays as troop leaders.
2003
The US Supreme Court, in the case Lawrence v. Texas, overturns its Bowers v. Hardwick ruling, throwing out a Texas sodomy law prohibiting two people of the same sex from certain sex acts.
2004
Massachusetts becomes the first state to legalise same-sex marriages after a state court finds banning them violates the state constitution.
2010
President Barack Obama signs a law repealing the 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" policy that had banned gays from serving openly in the US military.
2012
Obama becomes the first president to support gay marriage.
2013
The US Supreme Court, in the case United States v. Windsor, rules unconstitutional a 1996 law that declared for the purposes of federal benefits marriage was defined as between one man and one woman. Afterward, an increasing number of states allow gay marriage.
2015
On April 28, the US Supreme Court hears arguments in a case in which same-sex couples challenge state bans on gay marriage.
On June 26, the Supreme Court rules that the US Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry as the justices in a 5-4 decision throw out state bans on same-sex marriage.
AFP