"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice,
and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of
the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage
embodies a love that may endure even past death. It
would misunderstand these men and women to say they
disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do
respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its
fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the
eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed.
It is so ordered."
