Same-Sex Marriage Is a Right, Supreme Court Rules, 5-4

Did I seriously read that right? Has my country finally realised that not allowing gays and lesbians to marry is indeed unconstitutional? I am excited, but is it for real?? It's gotta be because this is what The New York Times just told me:

Justice Kennedy said gay and lesbian couples had a fundamental right to marry.

“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family,” he wrote. “In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.”

“It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage,” Justice Kennedy said of the couples challenging state bans on same-sex marriage. “Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”

As someone who has supported gay rights since I was a teenager, this ruling makes me so unbelievably happy, because it shows progress. A movement forward. Tolerance. And after tolerance comes acceptance and then finally respect. Something everyone desires and so many deserve. Hooray for equality!!

(photo kidnapped from sodahead)