A day some Americans thought — and some hoped — would never come

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[h=4]A day some Americans thought — and some hoped — would never come[/h]From the nation's capital, where activists chanted "Love has won!'' to county courthouses across the South and Midwest, Americans reacted to the Supreme Court's decision legalizing same-sex marriage with a range of emotions, from joy to despair.

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The U.S. Supreme Court struck down bans on same-sex marriage in a historic 5-4 ruling. The justices ruled that states cannot deny gay men and lesbians the same marriage rights enjoyed for thousands of years by opposite-sex couples. VPC


Same-sex marriage supporters hold up balloons that spell the word "Love" as they wait outside of the Supreme Court on June 26, 2015.(Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)


From the nation's capital, where activists chanted "Love has won!'' to county courthouses across the South and Midwest, Americans reacted to the Supreme Court's decision legalizing same-sex marriage with a range of emotions, from joy to despair.
However you felt about the decision, it was hard to argue with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who called Friday "one of those days we'll tell our grandchildren about.''
What we tell them will depend on how we felt about the issue, which morphed in just a few years from an unpopular cause to something favored by most Americans and legal in 36 states even before the court's decision.
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Officially, the ruling did not take effect immediately; a losing side has several weeks to seek reconsideration. But some state officials and county clerks concluded there was little risk in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples immediately.
In Lansing, Mich., Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum, who had a gay couple waiting outside the window of her office even before the ruling was announced, said she'd immediately begin marrying couples and stay open "until the last person is served.''
In Michigan's Eaton County, the clerk's office waived the usual three-day waiting period for a $20 marriage license. In Austin, the Travis County clerk's office said it began issuing licenses less than a half hour after the ruling, despite a warning from the Texas attorney general to wait.
Elsewhere, the brakes were on. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hoode mailed clerks that same-sex couples couldn't yet be issued marriage licenses because the court's decision "is not immediately effective in Mississippi'' until a federal appeals court formally lifts an order barring such unions.
"This could come quickly,'' he said, "or may take several days.'' Or, he said, a federal appeals court "might choose not to lift the stay, and instead issue an order which could take considerably longer.''
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Jackson attorney Rob McDuff, who represented the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the state's same-sex marriage ban, said there was "absolutely no reason to delay issuing licenses."
Laurin Locke and partner Tiffany Brosh, who had a commitment ceremony last year, were at the courthouse in Mississippi's Hinds County to get a license and marry.
They said were disappointed when told they had to wait. "But we've applied, so we took the first step," Locke said. "We're a little frustrated, but I'm sure everybody else is in the state.''
The court's decision did not end the national debate. Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, the Sharonville, Ohio, group that spearheaded the drive for the state's 2004 gay marriage ban, called the decision "a travesty. … The Supreme Court has no business interfering in states' rights issues."
He said the case was brought by gay activists to persecute people who don't accept their behavior -- "a full-fledged attack on religious freedom." Although the group did not demonstrate Friday, he said it would continue to oppose candidates who support same-sex unions.
But many politicians who've opposed legalizing same sex marriage seemed ready to fold their tents. Ohio Gov. John Kasich told reporters outside the statehouse in Columbus that the justices "made their determination and we just move on. Doesn't mean I'm not disappointed -- I am -- but the decision has been made."
The shift in sentiment in favor of legalizing gay marriage was apparent in the states whose laws banning gay marriage were the subject of oral arguments before the high court: Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky.
In Goshen, Ky, Audrey and Karen Morrison, who have three daughters, said they've always considered themselves a family. Now, said Kinsey, a sophomore at Stanford University, "Kentucky will be forced to recognize us as one."
The couple said they'll now marry, perhaps on Dec. 29 – the 25th anniversary of their first date. When they do, they and other same-sex couples will immediately gain a host of benefits previously available in Kentucky only to heterosexual couples.
Karen, CEO of a cancer support group, will be able to put Audrey, 66, a substitute teacher, on her health plan. They'll be able to file their state income tax returns jointly, saving money. If they decide to go their separate ways, they'll be able to get a divorce. And if one dies, the other can inherit property without having to pay tax on the first $5.3 million of the estate — just like widows and widowers in heterosexual marriages.
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The U.S. General Accounting Office says federal laws confer 1,138 benefits, rights and privileges on married couples, and hundreds more are made available under state law — even the right to inherit hunting licenses in some states.
Now, Karen Morrison said, "We can now do what every married couple has done." But she said the biggest benefit was intangible -- "a validation of our family."
In the liberal bastion of Ann Arbor, Mich., Jim Toy — a pioneer of the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender movement — said he'd waited and worked for such a moment for half of his 85 years.
Toy helped start the gay rights movement in Detroit 40 years ago and marched in June 1963 with Martin Luther King Jr. in Detroit's big civil rights march, shortly before the one in Washington.
"I'm overwhelmed," Toy said, as he watched dozens cry and hug outside of the community center in Ann Arbor that bears his name. "Finally, the Supreme Court has affirmed and supported dignity and human worth."
The nurses at the center of Michigan's case, April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, said they never thought the day would come. Tears streamed down DeBoer's face as she got the news. "This is what we waited for. This is what we always wanted,'' she said. "I guess now we have to plan a wedding."
Contributing: Andrew Wolfson, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal; Stacey Barchenger, The (Nashville) Tennessean; Kate Royals and Geoff Pender, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger; Chrissie Thompson and Jessie Balmert, the Cincinnati Enquirer; Katrease Stafford, the Detroit Free Press; Eric Lacy, Lansing (Mich.) State Journal; Roger Weeder, First Coast News, Jacksonville; Jason Whitely, WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth; The (Shreveport, La.) Times; Brian Lyman, The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.

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