国际英语新闻:US Supreme Court Rules Gay Marriage Legal Nationwide

Gay marriage opponents were also out in force in front of the court including Jennifer Marshall with the conservative Heritage Foundation.  Marshall said the battle over gay marriage will continue.

“Well this is a disappointment because the court should have respected the fact that nothing in the Constitution required the re-definition of marriage.  Marriage policy has historically been and should remain under the authority of states and the American people.  The court has issued a decision but it will not end the conversation about what marriage is any more than the Roe versus Wade decision has ended the abortion debate.”

The outcome is the culmination of two decades of Supreme Court litigation over marriage, and gay rights generally.

The ruling is the Supreme Court's most important expansion of marriage rights in the United States since its landmark 1967 ruling in the case Loving v. Virginia that struck down state laws barring interracial marriages.

Public Opinion Shift  

Public opinion has shifted strongly in support of gay marriage in recent years, said analyst Karlyn Bowman of the American Enterprise Institute.

“American’s views about gay marriage have changed remarkably fast in terms of being more accepting of gay marriage overall," Bowman said.

"And it has been one of the most rapid transformations I’ve seen in public opinion, in part because so many know someone who is gay or have a friend who is gay or a family member who is gay and that kind of proximity has actually created greater acceptance," he added.

Georgetown University law professor Nan Hunter told VOA’s Mike Bowman outside the court that Friday’s decision reflected that shift in public opinion.  “I’m not sure America changed today.  I think the court today said we see how America has changed.”

VOA's Michael Bowman contributed to this report.

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