flag (1)(News1130) The US Supreme Court has declared that same-sex couples have the right to marry anywhere in the United States. Gay and lesbian couples already can marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia.

The court’s ruling, by a margin of 5-4, means the remaining 14 states, in the South and Midwest, will have to stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage.

“Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else,” says US President Barack Obama.

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

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, just as he did in the court’s previous three major gay rights cases dating back to 1996.