The US Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act, that restricts the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples in a major victory for the gay rights movement.
The ruling, on a 5-4 vote, means that legally married gay men and women are entitled to claim the same federal benefits that are available to opposite-sex married couples. The court was due to decide within minutes a second case concerning a California law that bans same-sex marriage in the state. (Reuters)