[ roars ] [ roars ] [ roars ] [ male announcer ] universal studios summer of survival. today r s historic supreme court decision comes two days before the 44th industry of the
maefrd in the eyes of the government of the united states as of today. i would have gone further than the decision today. i think the 14th amendment to the constitution could not be more clear, nor shall any state deprive any person of life liberty or property without due process of life nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. tell me how a state can deny a couple that right to marry without denying liberty? and how can a state be allowed the couple without due process of law? did they commit a crime. i heard doifd boyce say something outside the supreme court today. he said the decision by the court today striking down doa, against of marriage act will be followed by the same decision against california s prop 8 when that measure gets to be properly brought before the court which it hasn t so far. i agree with david as i often do. the wheels of justice turn slowly but they will some day and they will some day grind
federal law that you said my family was less than your family. that s now gone. and that creates a different construct for forward motioning governor, i want you to talk about san francisco. we had jeane kirkpatrick back when it was already to do gay baiting and she would refer to like the san francisco democrats, hee, hee, hee, i get the feeling i think it is my favorite city although i m a philadelphia guy. there s nothing like your city. it is a spectacular city. it s also a gay mecca. what is the feeling in that community tonight about this as well braler to moment? at our best chris, you know this, and for that matter the best of our state and country, we don t kent tolerate diversity. we celebrate it each and every day. we unite around those things that dr. king so eloquently talked about, those things that bind us together. that s what we celebrated that spirit and pride that comes in shape and form when we celebrate those differences as we did with this decision today.
finally. we ll get the court decision america deserves some day. for now it is a time to celebrate the american be constitution and the rights it protects. justice correspondent pete williams joins me now. pete, what a day and what a direction. it just seems like even though it s only justice kennedy but the future has been pointed out to us today. well, it s very interesting, chris, that just yesterday, the supreme court greatly disappointed the civil rights community in america by striking at the heart of the voting rights act. then came back today and struck down the defense of marriage act giving great hope to the advocates of same-sex marriage across the nation. right. now, i think you very accurately characterized what the decision says. it does not say that any state has to allow same-sex marriage. what it says is in the states ta choose to do so, the federal government cannot refuse to recognize those marriages. justice kennedy s opinion for five members of the court said
relationships and in all their forms. today s supreme court decision was an important step if the right direction. richard, you were there with bill clinton. we had a bill signed by the president called the defense of marriage act which was anti-gay marriage. you were there, now you re here. bill clinton now celebrates what the court decision said today in knocking down what he signed. how do you put all that together? the first thing i want to say about the decision is i think the language in the decision is very affirming. and it really reflects the cultural change that we ve seen in the 17 years since clinton was president. you know, he has written about it, he s talked about it. he had that washington post op-ed in which he asked the court to overturn doma. i think he s expressed a lot of regret. i think that today. regret, is it the right word or did he do what he had to do? i am an understanding person about politics. i understand at the time, the country wasn t there. wh