Reaction to the SCOTUS decision - WAFB 9 News Baton Rouge, Louisiana News, Weather, Sports

Reaction to the SCOTUS decision

President Barack Obama

The president took to Twitter to react to the decisions: "Today's DOMA ruling is a historic step forward for #MarriageEquality. #LoveIsLove," Obama said.

GLAD

"The Court has removed the stain and the insult that is DOMA," said Lee Swislow, GLAD's Executive Director. "This is an enormous victory and a joyous day for loving, married couples and their families – and for thousands of couples in California who will now be able to express their commitment through marriage."

Family Policy Institute

"The Supreme Court got it wrong when it said that the state can tell the federal government how it must define marriage. The federal government, on behalf of those who elected them, should be able to recognize the unique value of relationships that provide children a mother and father," Joseph Backholm, executive director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington.

"However, those who want to redefine marriage suffered an important defeat today. The Supreme Court refused to declare a constitutional right to same-sex "marriage," and rejected their request to impose a redefinition of marriage on all fifty states. This decision means that this important debate will continue state by state across the country."

ACLU

"Today, the Supreme Court affirmed that there should be no gay exception in how the federal government regards marriage. If you are married, you are married."

"This historic ruling recognizes how unfair it is to treat married lesbian and gay couples as though they're legal strangers," said James Esseks, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project. "Edie and Thea were there for each other in sickness and in health like any other married couple. It's only right for the federal government to recognize their marriage and the life they built together."

"This is truly a day for the history books, one that will be marked by future generations as a giant step forward along our nation's continuing path towards equality," said Roberta Kaplan of Paul, Weiss, who argued Windsor's case at the Supreme Court. "DOMA was the last law on the books that mandated discrimination against gay people by the federal government simply because they are gay. The days of 'skim milk' or second-class marriages for gay people are now over."

Former Rep. Michele Bachmann

"Marriage was created by the hand of God. No man, not even a Supreme Court, can undo what a holy God has instituted. For thousands of years of recorded human history, no society has defended the legal standard of marriage as anything other than between man and woman. Only since 2000 have we seen a redefinition of this foundational unit of society in various nations. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to join the trend, despite the clear will of the people's representatives through DOMA. What the Court has done will undermine the best interest of children and the best interests of the United States."