The Supreme Court announced its decision on same sex marriage on Wednesday, overturning the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and rejecting the appeal of a California marriage ban, known as Proposition 8, according to CNN.
Gays and lesbians called the decision a "joyous milestone."
However, they acknowledge that a lot of work in the fight for equal rights remains, since the Supreme Court declined to make a sweeping statement on same-sex marriage rights by not ruling on the issue in California's Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state.
"Today's historic decisions put two giant cracks in the dark wall of discrimination that separates committed gay and lesbian couples from full equality," Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Commission, told CNN. "While we celebrate the victory for Californians today, tomorrow we turn our attention to the millions of LGBT people who don't feel the reach of these decisions."
The court rulings were delivered in two separate cases. The decisions mean that same-sex couples that marry in states where it's legal will be treated the same as heterosexual married couples under the law by the federal government in regard to issues such as retirement benefits and taxes.
The ruling also allows same-sex marriage to resume in California, though it has no impact on same-sex marriage bans in 35 states where same-sex marriage is still illegal.
Justices voted 5-4 in Hollingsworth v. Perry, that the traditional marriage activists who put Proposition 8 on California ballots, didn't have the constitutional authority to defend the law in federal court after the state refused to appeal its loss at trial.
"We have never before upheld the standing of a private party to defend the constitutionality of a state when state officials have chosen not to," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. "We decline to do so for the first time here."
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan joined Roberts in his opinion. Justice Anthony Kennedy filed the dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor.
The ruling has leaving some with mixed feelings.
"We're disappointed in the short-term, but the public conversation continues and that's a good things," Rev. Rob Schenck, the president of the Evangelical Church Alliance, a group that opposes same-sex marriage.
News coverage of the decision.
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