[applause] [applause] [applause] the court has decided the samesex marriage case. The 14th amendment says the state must license a marriage. It requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex. This is the case that many people have been watching and waiting for. Lots of excitement outside the court. We expect to hear some of the principles involved. Some of the attorneys who argued the case. The decision yesterday was made on the health care law. Some the other decisions that the court will decide, possibly as many as four today. Capital punishment and lethal injection. Gerrymandering in elections. The Court Decides 54 in favor of samesex marriage. [singing] [singing] [general chatter] sights and sounds from outside the Supreme Court where the ruling has just been announced that samesex marriage is the law of the land of. The Associated Press reports that the Supreme Court has declared that samesex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States. Couples can marry in 36 states. The remaining 14 states in the south and midwest will have to stop enforcing their bands. Bans. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion it. It was a 54 decision. He wrote it as he did in the three previous major gay rights cases dating back to 1996. We will go to your calls and get your reaction to the ruling on samesex marriage. The numbers are on your screen. We as a country can finally turn the page from a National Discrimination to a new era of equality when it comes to recognizing our relationships. This is not just a good day for gay people. This is a good day for the country. It is exciting to be here with so many people who brought their children, their parents, their grandparents to be a part of such a historic day. We know that with this decision, the momentum will continue to ensure that we can have equality in many areas of our lives. We will be able to see couples across the country be able to get married in their own backyards if they want to. In the majority of states across this country, discrimination and other areas of our lives still lingers. You can still be fired from your job, you can be asked to relieve a restaurant. It you can be denied a hotel room on your honeymoon simply because of who you are. We look forward to today. We continue our progress not only for lgbtq people but for the country as a whole. Thank you. I am the executive director of the National Task force. Thank you, everyone. [applause] what the court did today was incredible. We are thrilled that the court has ruled anns against samesex marriage are unconstitutional. We will continue to fight for the opportunity to have our rights extended in other arenas, whether its employment, housing, or health care. We are incredibly excited about the momentum that will be garnered. We are looking forward to continuing the conversation. We know there will be some response that is negative, somebody trying to use religious liberties as an excuse. We are not going to let that conversation stop. We will not let it end there. We look forward to rolling up our sleeves and continuing to fight in other arenas. We are live outside the Supreme Court. We may hear from others coming to the microphone. The ruling announced just a short time ago from the Supreme Court, samesex marriage is legal nationwide. A 54 decision written by Anthony Kennedy. Chief Justice Roberts is reading his dissent that is some 31 pages in length. 854 54 Decision Making this legal. Lets go to joe in kansas. Caller i wanted to thank you for instead of talking immediately after the decision to focus on it reactions and show that mens chorus. That was very touching. I am thrilled as a gay man in kansas. Weve seen protections rolled back by governor brownback. It brings hope that we can perhaps move on and be able to carry the torch and have some sort of momentum to move to other issues such as trans discrimination and be able to do some much needed good in the community instead of focusing entirely on marriage equality. Hopefully we dont just settle down and we carryon what we need to do in order to make equality, whether it be racial, gender identity, or sexuality a real thing throughout the rest of the United States. Thank you. Host wayne is on the line for republicans. Caller i think its a big change. Host thanks for calling. London is calling from washington dc. Are you with us . I guess not. We have a couple of tweets. The kennedy decision ends with some profound lines. According to tom Taylor Roberts five lawyers have ordered every state to change their definition of marriage. Who do we think we are, that is judge roberts reading from his dissent. Gay marriage is legal in all states. Charles is live from colorado. Caller i am disgusted about the decision. When the bible condemns it and god condemns it, what gives them authority to say its ok . I am very disgusted. I feel like america has fallen because everything thats going on is backwards. We have an administration now, i dont care if its the Supreme Court or the president of the United States, everything is going corrupt. God will condemn it. He condemned it once in the bible. I thank you for letting me make my comment. Host as we continue to watch sights and sounds outside the Supreme Court, we continue to take your calls. Caller my name is katrina. I am very disappointed. Just looking at this, it feels like our country has fallen. Its up to them to be gay or lesbian. I feel like them pushing it on our states and our government, to make this law change, i feel like thats not fair. To make this a change, we have to cater to them. I could ask everyone to be christians, im not going to push my beliefs on someone else. Host another color is from florida. Caller is from florida. Caller i just want to make a comment about people complaining about this confederate flag. What about christian people who dont like to see that day flag . That puts down my jesus christ that died for all of us. What they did today was a disgrace. All of these other countries are watching america fallen to the ground. Host the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage. It was already legal in 36 states and d. C. The decision was written by Anthony Kennedy. The Supreme Court declared that samesex marriage is now legal in all 50 states. To the line for democrats gary is with us. Caller im going to be different. Im going to say thank god the Supreme Court caught up with the church. I am a lutheran. We have been lutherans forever. I was married in the lutheran church. I was married by my pastor two years ago. I couldnt be more pleased. I did not know this was coming this morning. I went to listen to obamas speech later. I am just thrilled. Nobody has to be bothered by gay marriage or anything else. If it isnt involved in your particular life, ignore it. We are just catching up with the rest of the world. Host eric is in california. What do you think of the ruling . Caller i wish it hadnt happened. I think the demographics were going to vote eventually. I think it sets up a collision between the freedom of religion and the 14th amendment. A lot of people practicing their religious beliefs might the practicing hate speech soon. Host four justices each filed their own dissenting opinions. None of those are signed on to buy all four. It was a 54 decision. The decision was written by Anthony Kennedy. More of your phone calls. Caller i lived in the homosexual lifestyle for 10 years. In my experience, i find that its very hard for game in to maintain a relationship long enough to sustain a life of marriage to one another. They are always cheating on one another. I have been in that realm. This is totally wrong. I am on the religious side. I gave my heart back to jesus christ. I dont want to use the word, they cant Stay Together long enough to have a marriage. Host thanks for the call. We understand that president obama will be making a statement this morning about the Supreme Court decision on same sex marriage. That is coming up about half an hour from now. We plan to bring that to you live on cspan. More of your calls and sights and sounds from outside the Supreme Court did justin is in south carolina. Caller i support this but hello . [inaudible] host we lost you there. Moving on to washington. Caller this is a sad day in the life of humankind god created man and he created woman in his image. Man has destroyed relationship of man and woman as a result of their thirst for sin. Its a sinful combination when you have people going against the laws of god. God is not going to tolerate this. Its a sad day in the life of humankind. Those that understand the things that happened, gods wrath will come as a result of violating his laws. Host two north carolina, david joins us. Caller good morning. Thanks to cspan. I am confused. As a minister, i believe in separation of church and state. There is no way that you can equate earthly issues with god issues. We the people, we make laws based on the people to protect and serve all the people. Its not just there for church folks. We answer to a higher calling. We are called to a higher calling. We are supposed to love those. We have to realize that that separation is not based on individual ideology. The government has to step in and say these things are legal. We are free to have different ideals. We wont have to worry about whether a person is gay or lesbian. We learn to love people. Host president obama is tweeting. Big step in our march toward equality. Gays and lesbians have the right to marry just like everyone else. The president will come out with a statement in about half an hour. You can tweet is set cspan. You can join the conversation on facebook. A couple of comments coming on facebook. Patty writes civil union yes marriage no. Marriage was instituted by god in the bible. Kevin is in mississippi. Caller i think its a sad day in this country. The Supreme Court would go against god and the bible. Its just a disgrace. Even the Supreme Court, i just dont know what this country is coming to. Host kathy is on the line for democrats. Caller i would just like to reiterate that our country is not a religious dictatorship or a religiousbased from it. Its based on the u. S. Constitution which is secular. We have a lot of people who do not abide by the bible. They have the right to do that. The 14th of them it states that everyone is to be treated equally. There is no question about it. I just think its a done deal. I think they were right in what they did. I am disappointed they didnt go ninezero. The constitution is clear. If they want to change it, they will have to add an amendment. Otherwise, leave it as it is. Everyone is equal. Host this is the date the court released its samesex marriage ruling. It was a 54 decision. Samesex marriage is constitutional. President obama in 30 minutes well have a statement on the ruling. We will fill in with your phone calls. Caller hello. I would like to say this is a sad day. Back to obamas statement earlier, he has done nothing for the equality. Eric carolina, we voted it down a. Now this shows that our votes mean nothing. At what point does democracy take care of the people in the majorities views to the group that is not. It is my opinion that it is wrong. You say there is a separation marriage is a religious ceremony. Why would someone thats not religious worry be worried about it anyway . Host mary is in houston. Caller this is a wonderful day in spite of what some people think this is a long time coming. We have a governor in texas who does not agree with this. He is probably having an apoplexy as we speak. The four biggest gay pride parades of this weekend and its going to be a celebration beyond any. The one here in houston is tomorrow night. It will be a wonder celebration. I understand people who believe in the bible and believe everything in it. I was brought up in church. I do agree with separation of church and state. We have far too many religions in this country to say that this religion is right and no one else is. That is why we have a separation of church and state. For those who are disappointed, thats fine. You dont have to like it. You dont have to agree with it. You do need to show some respect for the decision thats been made. I would also like to remind those that there is such a thing in the bible that says were supposed to love saints and sinners alike. We are not supposed to judge. They need to think long and hard about that. Its a wonderful day for all of them. I have a daughter who is gay. Now i can see her legally married without having to travel to another state. I think its wonderful. Host thank you for the call. Caller i totally disagree with this. Instead of having continuous news on gay news, why do we just help our infrastructure and work on that . Raise our cost of living. These things, is this going to help our country get that her . If you want to be gay, be gay. Help the American People get their jobs back. I worked for 42 years. Its very hard for me to accept this fact that what they are doing to our country. Get these republicans and have them work with the democrats are in get our country back into shape. Who cares if people want to be gay. We dont have to have a daily thing about it. Host thanks for calling. The hill writes that today marks the twoyear anniversary of the decision on United States the windsor, that struck down part of the defense of marriage act. It forced the government to recognize samesex marriages. That was two years ago on this date. Not the only decision that was announced today. In one of the decision, eightone decision, the armed career criminal act was ruled unconstitutional. Imposing an increased sense under the residual clause violates due process. Three more cases are undecided. The next decision day is monday. We could get the rest of those decisions today. Tuesday. We are watching outside the Supreme Court. We learned that the court has decided that samesex marriage is now the law of the land. We are taking your calls while we wait for the president s remarks. Karen is joining us in virginia. Caller thank you so much. I am a bornagain believer. I am a very conservative republican. I am also in a samesex marriage. I am extremely excited and relieved about the ruling. I am in related that i heard peoples comments and i know people will disagree. Thats what is great about being in america. You get to have your opinion and voice it. I know people are going to agree or disagree. I heard one caller say they are tighter tired of hearing about gay stuff. Thats not what i want to have the same marriage with my wife that my mom and dad had. Thank you for letting me say that i am a super excited. Host phil is joining us from chicago. Are you there question mark caller i am 72 years old. I consider this a nonevent. Whats the skin off anybodys nose is it with what someone else wants to do if they want to get married or not . This is a case of watch what you wish were. Im sure year the divorce lawyers are going to be happy. They will be waiting for new divorces. Its going to be a party for some people. Host thanks for calling. We will look in to some of the sights and sounds at the Supreme Court. [applause] [general chatter] [singing][general chatter] [singing] [singing] todays decision is unprecedented in our nations history. It ignored the voices of thousands of americans. Not only did it ignore the voices of americans of children who deserve to know and be raised by their mother and father. It rendered the voters of tens of millions of americans who have gone to the ballot docs and said that marriage should be between a man and a woman as it has been for we know that the freedom to address the issues of our day is the heart of liberty. Five justices sold our freedom. They stole that from every single one of us. I would like to introduce my colleague. He has argued that the virginia marriage cases. He argued and defended proposition eight in california. Today, five lawyers took away the voices of over 300 million americans to continue to debate the most important social institution in the history of the world. That decision is unfortunate. It is choking off a robust debate among so many different people of good faith. We forced our concern of millions of americans who continue to believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Nobody has the right to say that a mom or woman or a dad is a relevant millions of Americans Still believe that and the court choked off that debate. We hope that millions of americans who still believe that a marriage is one man and one woman will continue to proclaim that truth. Notwithstanding the court decision, i will be happy to take any questions. I will introduce my colleague. Only the government can violate the constitution. Not individual people with their own believes. What i fear is as we saw with the strong reaction to individual Business Owners who express a view, marriage is only defined laws compel them to participate in ceremonies they dont agree with or force them to make messages about marriage that they dont agree with. As Justice Kennedy said Constitutional Rights are not up for popular vote. Popular laws cannot take away peoples rights to freedom of speech. Their right to freedom of the press and assembly. This decision today will not be used as an excuse to ostracize or demonize or punish people for holding views contrary to what five of the nine justices said today. Thank you. [general chatter] [general chatter] are we ready . Good morning. I am from cincinnati. I have lived in ohio for most of my life. My husband and i were gathered for 21 years before he passed away from als. I am here in front of our highest court because my home state. The recognition of my marriage. When the man i loved and cared for passed away from one of the cruelest diseases, the state of ohio, the state in which i paid taxes, continues to fight to list my name on johns death certificate. No one should have to suffer that in dignity. That is why john and i and the plaintiffs decided to fight. I know in my heart that john is with me today. That man cared and loved me for 21 years. The ruling from the Supreme Court affirms what millions across the country already know to be true in our hearts. Our love is equal. The four words, equal justice under law, applies to us as well. We deserve equal dignity respect, and treatment when it comes to the recognition of our relationships and families. Ohio will recognize our marriage. Marriage equality will come to every state across the country. Its my hope that this turns the term gay marriage will you think of the past. From this point over, it will simply be marriage. I hope that this decision reduces the stigma and the alienation and discrimination that gay people often feel when we live our lives openly. We will celebrate todays victory, my heart is in charleston. This is been an important reminder that discrimination in many forms is alive and well in america. It reminds us of the unfortunate reality that progress for some is not progress for all. If we are truly dedicated to our democracy, we must be equally committed to make sure that all citizens are created equally. I want to thank my legal team and the people who stood by me every step of the way. Thank you to the aclu, lambda legal and all of the litigators, plaintiffs, and organizations who fought for equality. This was possible because of each and every one of you. We ou all the huge debt of gratitude. Most importantly, i would like to thank john. For loving me, making me a better man, and for giving me something worth fighting for. This is for you. Thank you. I am a lawyer. I argued question one. Today was a momentous decision. Its going to bring joy to millions of families. Every person in this country realizes they can marry tomorrow. They can marry someday, the person they love and make that unique commitment to take on that responsibility. It is also a great thing for kids who no longer have to question why their parents were deemed unworthy of marriage. They can have the same security and protections that marriage provides. This is also a great day for our constitution. Today, the courts stood by a principal in this nation that we do not tolerate laws that disadvantage people because of who they are. It is a day for equality, for liberty, for justice under law. There are thousands of people gathered together warning in charleston because it is still true that people sometimes are targeted and face unspeakable acts of violence because of who they are. As we celebrate what is a landmark ruling for love and for justice, lettuce rededicate ourselves to ensuring that every person in this nation can live safely and securely. We need to do this for each other. We know this to future generations. I thank everyone who is helped make this day possible. Thank you. This is truly a great day for all americans. These court stressed that marriage is fundamental. Marriage is fundamental to couples and families they built around their marriages. It is fundamental to society. Its hard to believe that less than two decades ago, gay and lesbian individuals faced the possibility of being jailed because of the person they loved. Today, the Supreme Court validates the full equality under law of all gay, lesbian, transgendered people. They are entitled to the full measure of equality by protecting the rights of gays and lesbians, they protected the rights of all americans. Americans should not have to persuade a majority that they need to be tolerated. This victory does not, by happenstance. It is the product of many decades of hard labor by many people. My colleague has been a leader in this movement for decades. It took the bravery of the plaintiffs standing up and insisting. Thank you very much. I am here with my husband. These are our two children. We are joined today by a coplaintiff. His parents did not quite make it. We are so grateful to be here. I would like to start by saying what i think everyone should say when something good happens in their life. We need to pause and give thanks to god. As a catholic, that is how we feel. We feel this is gods intention. We embrace it. Michael and i have been together for 33 years. We have been legally married for 11 years. Not until today, did the state of kentucky recognize our union. This is a watershed day for our family. Its the same for all kentuckians. Its been a long path for us. We know that people have been fighting this fight for decades. We think so many people especially the aclu who is been so supportive of us. Our legal team got us started in kentucky. We have had so much support from so many people, including evan. He has been one of the founding people. Michael and i have been together through a lot of it. We never felt we would see this happen. We are grateful for the day that we can celebrate this. This means that our children will now be able to have two legal adopted parents. That means the world to us. Theres a song we sing in our church that starts out thats the way we feel today. We have overcome. We have the freedom to marry for all kentuckians. Thank you very much. I am james essex. The Supreme Court welcomed samesex couples into the american family. It recognized that we make the commitment and we express the love and we need to protections that are at the core of marriage. That makes today a watershed moment in the movement for equality and for the country as a whole. This was an epic leap forward. This journey started a long time ago. In 1967, a case came to the u. S. Supreme court and Supreme Court struck down bans on interracial marriage. In 1970, a couple filed the first lawsuit in the country seek them the freedom to marry. The aclu is proud to have represented them. Today is a day to celebrate. Its a day to say thank you. Thank you to all the people who have been working on this issue for such a long time. All the people who came out. All of the advocates who worked in courthouses. It takes a while to change americas understanding of samesex couples. We rejoice today. The decision makes the country more fair, poor free, more equal. We are enormously grateful. Thank you. We were one of the four plaintiffs in ohio. For us, this started out as a dream to add my name to the birth certificate. It became so much more important and so much bigger than just that. I do think anyone dreams more about having their marriage recognized by the state that we live and work in. When you have kids, you do anything that you can to protect them. And what we did was to protect them, we brought this all the way to the Supreme Court. That is how much we love our kids. We are so happy that when we return home today, that our marriage is recognized just the same as our neighbors marriages are recognized. Collects we are so proud and thankful to be a part of this case and a part of this Historic Movement that this is. I want to thank all of our attorneys and all of the other attorneys who worked effortlessly without them we wou