Washington, Jun 26 (EFE).- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday in favor of legalizing gay marriage across the country, a historic decision that annuls the power of states to ban same-sex unions.

The high court’s decision makes same-sex marriage a constitutional right in the United States, and consequently requires the 13 states still prohibiting it to allow people of the same sex to marry legally.

The vote was 5-4 and the decision will not take effect immediately, as the high court allows the losing side about three weeks to request reconsideration.

The case analyzed by Scotus on Friday refers specifically to the states of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, where marriage is officially defined as the union between a man and a woman.

These states have not allowed same-sex couples to marry inside their state lines and have also refused to recognize marriages that are valid in other states of the country.

Just two years ago the Supreme Court annulled part of the federal law against gay marriage, which had denied a series of government benefits for same-sex couples that had legally contracted matrimony.

Hundreds of people gathered around the Supreme Court to celebrate the justices’ decision.

The government of President Barack Obama had openly backed same-sex marriage since, for the first time, the president himself spoke out to support it in 2012.

The court’s ruling is “a big step in our march toward equality,” Obama said Friday via Twitter. EFE