US Supreme Court backs gay marriage

THE US Supreme Court has denied the right to appeal for five states seeking to uphold bans on same-sex marriage.

On Monday October 6, the Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin, essentially making same-sex marriage legal in those five states.

Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming, which all fall under the jurisdiction of the courts involved in the defeated appeals, are set to follow suit shortly, according to experts.

Same-sex marriage is now legal in 30 states and the District of Columbia, thus creating a majority of pro-marriage states within the union. The legal fallout from this is yet to be determined, but the move by the Supreme Court has been welcomed by the LGBT community and same-sex marriage supporters as a massive step in the right direction for gay rights in the USA.

Evan Wolfson, President of the Freedom to Marry campaign group, said in a statement: “The court’s letting stand these victories means that gay couples will soon share in the freedom to marry in 30 states, representing 60% of the American people.”

Wolfson went on to urge the Supreme Court to ‘finish the job’. He said: “We are one country, with one constitution, and the court’s delay in affirming the freedom to marry nationwide prolongs the patchwork of state-to-state discrimination and the harms and indignity that the denial of marriage still inflicts on too many couples in too many places.”