Today in History: June 26, US Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage
Today is Thursday, June 26, the 177th day of 2025. There are 188 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On June 26, 2015, in its 5-4 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the country, ruling that state-level bans on same-sex marriage violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Also on this date:
In 1917, U.S. troops entered World War I as the first troops of the American Expeditionary Force landed in Saint-Nazaire, France.
In 1945, the charter of the United Nations was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco.
In 1948, the Berlin Airlift began in earnest after the Soviet Union cut off land and water routes to the isolated western sector of Berlin.
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin, where he delivered his famous speech expressing solidarity with the city’s residents, declaring: “Ich bin ein Berliner” (“I am a Berliner”).
In 1993, President Bill Clinton announced the U.S. had launched missiles against Iraqi targets because of “compelling evidence” Iraq had plotted to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush.
In 1996, in the case of United States v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the Virginia Military Institute’s male-only admission policy violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. (VMI enrolled its first female cadets the following year.)
In 1997, the first Harry Potter novel, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling, was published in the United Kingdom. It was later released in the United States under the title “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
In 2008, in District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a handgun ban in the District of Columbia as it affirmed, 5-4, that an individual’s right to gun ownership is protected by the Second Amendment.
In 2013, in the case of United States v. Windsor, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the nation’s legally married same-sex couples equal federal footing with all other married Americans, and cleared the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California in a separate decision.
Today’s Birthdays: Jazz musician-composer Dave Grusin is 91. Singer Billy Davis Jr. is 87. Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician Gilberto Gil is 83. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer is 72. Musician Mick Jones (The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite) is 70. Musician Chris Isaak is 69. Cyclist Greg LeMond is 64. Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe is 57. Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson is 55. Actor Sean Hayes is 55. Actor Chris O’Donnell is 55. Actor Nick Offerman is 55. Country musician Gretchen Wilson is 52. Baseball Hall of Famer Derek Jeter is 51. Actor Jason Schwartzman is 45. Actor Aubrey Plaza is 41. Actor-author Jennette McCurdy is 33. Singer-actor Ariana Grande is 32. Actor Jacob Elordi is 28.
By The Associated Press
