With the US Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage, let's not forget those that came before it

Countries with the Freedom to Marry: The Netherlands: April 1, 2001 Belgium: June 1, 2003 Spain: July 3, 2005 Canada: July 20, 2005 South Africa: November 30, 2006 Norway: January 1, 2009 Sweden: May 1, 2009 Portugal: June 5, 2010 Iceland: June 27, 2010 Argentina: July 22, 2010 Denmark: June 15,2012 Brazil: May 14, 2013 France: May 29, 2013 Uruguay: August 5, 2013 New Zealand: August 19, 2013 United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland) February 4, 2014 Luxembourg: June 18, 2014 Finland: November 28, 2014 Ireland: May 23, 2015 Mexico: June 3, 2015 The United States: June 26, 2015

BREAKING: The Supreme Court says gay couples have the right to marry in all 50 states

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court declared Friday that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States.

Gay and lesbian couples already can marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia. The court’s 5-4 ruling means the remaining 14 states, in the South and Midwest, will have to stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage.

The outcome is the culmination of two decades of Supreme Court litigation over marriage, and gay rights generally.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, just as he did in the court’s previous three major gay rights cases dating back to 1996. It came on the anniversary of two of those earlier decisions.

“No union is more profound than marriage,” Kennedy wrote, joined by the court’s four more liberal justices.

The ruling will not take effect immediately because the court gives the losing side roughly three weeks to ask for reconsideration. But some state officials and county clerks might decide there is little risk in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.