Israel's gay community on Wednesday welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court ruling recognizing same-sex marriages in states where it is legal, and urged the Israeli government to do the same.
The National Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association, an advocacy group promoting equal rights for the gay community in Israel, issued a statement saying, "This is a monumental day for the GLBT community in the U.S. We congratulate the American Supreme Court for doing the right and proper thing.
"It is time that Israel put a stop to the discrimination and the Chief Rabbinate's monopoly over the institution of marriage. We want to believe that the current government, which is not bound by the haredi [ultra-Orthodox] parties, will keep up with the times and promote legislation that allows civil marriage for all Israelis, including same-sex couples."
Association spokesman Gil Kol said that although until recently Israel was one of the more progressive Western states on the issue of gay rights, "over the past few years, as more and more nations have recognized gay marriage, Israel has been left behind."
Israel is a signatory to the U.N.'s Gay Rights Protection Resolution (2011) and Israeli law recognizes the domestic partnership of same-sex couples, affording them all the legal and financial rights reserved for couples defined by law as having common-law marriages.
However, Israel's adoption and surrogacy laws do not recognize same-sex couples' rights to adopt or use the services of a surrogate.
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a landmark victory for gay rights on Wednesday by forcing the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in states that have legalized it.
The court, however, fell short of a broader ruling endorsing a fundamental right for gay people to marry, meaning that there will be no impact in the more than 30 states that do not recognize gay marriage.
The two cases debated, both decided on 5-4 votes, concerned the constitutionality of a key part of a federal law, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which limited the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman for the purposes of federal benefits and denied benefits to same-sex married couples, and a voter-approved California state law enacted in 2008, called Proposition 8, that banned gay marriage.
The court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act as a violation of the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law.
The ruling was a victory for President Barack Obama's administration, which in 2010 stated it would no longer defend the law in court.
Obama praised the ruling, saying, "I applaud the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act. This was discrimination enshrined in law. It treated loving, committed gay and lesbian couples as a separate and lesser class of people. The Supreme Court has righted that wrong, and our country is better off for it. We are a people who declared that we are all created equal -- and the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."
"This ruling is a victory for couples who have long fought for equal treatment under the law," Obama said. "So we welcome today's decision, and I have directed the attorney-general to work with other members of my cabinet to review all relevant federal statutes to ensure this decision, including its implications for federal benefits and obligations, is implemented swiftly and smoothly.
"On an issue as sensitive as this, knowing that Americans hold a wide range of views based on deeply held beliefs, maintaining our nation's commitment to religious freedom is also vital. How religious institutions define and consecrate marriage has always been up to those institutions. Nothing about this decision -- which applies only to civil marriages -- changes that.
"The laws of our land are catching up to the fundamental truth that millions of Americans hold in our hearts: When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free."
The rulings come amid rapid progress for advocates of gay marriage in recent months and years. Opinion polls show a steady increase in U.S. public support for gay marriage.
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