By a 5 to 4 ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court, same-sex marriage is now legal for people in all 50 states in America.

The majority decision was announced today by Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Matthew Patterson with Equality Louisiana was interviewed by our news partners at Louisiana Network, and he says "it's hard to put into words what this means to the gay and lesbian community."

When contacted by KPEL-FM, Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court Louis Perret said they are not issuing marriage licensces right now as the State of Louisiana has Clerks of Courts in a holding pattern.

Perret says the way that he understands it, is that Attorney General Buddy Caldwell's office has not given offices the direction or paperwork on how to proceed.

Perret says, for example, on the lines that indicate Bride and Groom, they are unsure of which name would go where, whether or not they should be labelled as Person One and Person Two, and he does not want do something today that would then be considered illegal by Monday.

To hear the interview with Louis Perret, click here.

The issue facing the court was whehter or not each state would have to license same-sex marriage under the 14th Amendment to the Consitution.  That amendment guarantees everyone in America equal protection under the law.

States will not only to issues marriage licensces, but they will also have to recognize same-sex marriages that have occured in other states.

 

 

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