President Obama delivers remarks in the Rose Garden heralding the Supreme Court’s ruling that gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry in America.

In a 5-4 decision Friday (June 26) in Obergefell vs. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruled the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex.

PDF of the Supreme Court’s Decision

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Applauds SCOTUS Decision on Marriage Equality

Washington DC- Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) released the following statement today following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states:

“I applaud the Supreme Court’s ruling today,” said Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. “Some countries in the world are theocracies. Fortunately, the United States of America is not one of them. Therefore, as long as the government is involved in marriage, it must do so with fairness—treating all Americans equally. Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court is an important victory to this end.”

In its 5-4 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment requires all states to allow marriage between same-sex couples and to recognize a marriage between same-sex couples when their marriage was lawfully performed out-of-state.  Obergefell combined four cases with same-sex plaintiffs seeking to marry in Michigan, and Kentucky; as well as same-sex plaintiffs seeking to have their out-of-state marriages recognized in Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is a co-sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, and previously cosponsored the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, to protect employees from being fired for their sexual orientation.

Governor David Ige applauds United States Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality

Honolulu – Governor David Ige released the following statement after the United States Supreme Court announced its historic decision that same-sex couples have the right to marry.

“In 1993 Hawai‘i galvanized the national conversation on the right of same-sex couples to marry. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.’ I was proud to be part of that arc when I voted for marriage equality in Hawai‘i in 2013 as a State Senator. Hawai‘i has truly led the way. Now more Americans than ever support marriage equality and our nation’s highest court has affirmed that it is a fundamental right for all Americans. This is a great day for Hawai‘i and for our country. I echo President Obama’s words this morning when he said that ‘we have made our union a little more perfect.’”