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A landmark Supreme Court decision has Marriage Equality advocates celebrating. As Matt Galka tells us, the ruling makes Florida’s ban, which was overturned earlier this year, a thing of the past.

It was a special day on Friday for Equality Florida’s Jim VanRiper. 16 years ago he met his now husband. Now the anniversary will also be the day he remembers the Supreme Court making gay marriage legal across the United States.

“It’s an amazing day, a lot of people are celebrating, I’m personally very happy about this, it’s been a long battle many, many years in the making and it’s a wonderful day,” he said.

Same-sex marriage has been recognized in Florida since January.  The 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court put an end to pending appeals.

Michael Sheedy with the Florida Catholic Conference says they’ll continue to support the traditional definition of marriage.

“We’re disappointed. In mandating redefined marriage across society, it’s really a tragic decision that’s going to haunt the common good, and the most vulnerable among us, especially the children. Our laws should protect the right of children to be raised by a mother and father and they’re really at risk with this decision,” said Sheedy.

Florida’s Attorney General released a statement following the ruling saying that her office had been seeking uniformity.

Pam Bondi had a pending appeal on the state’s reversal of the same sex marriage ban. That is basically a mute point now. Her statement partly read “legal efforts were not about personal beliefs” and that “the court has spoken.”

The ruling struck down the remaining same sex marriage bans in 13 states.