The body of delegates from a state to a national nominating convention or from a county to a state or other party convention. The whole body of delegates or representatives sent to a convention or assembly from one district, place, or political unit is collectively spoken of as a delegation.
Lesbian and gay rights activists outside the Supreme Court in June 2013, when the court struck down a core piece of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman. WASHINGTON -- Any day now, the Supreme Court is going to hand down a major decision on same-sex marriage. And when it does, and if it rules in favor of marriage equality, as many observers expect, there's going to be one hell of a party outside. There will be rainbow flags. There will be rainbow shirts.
In a set of cases grouped under Obergefell v. Hodges, the high court ruled, 5-4, that states have to license same-sex marriages, as well as recognize same-sex marriages from other states. All four dissenting justices wrote dissents. Before the ruling, 13 states had same-sex marriage bans in place. The majority of the 37 states that recognized gay marriage did so as a result of federal court action. Those states' statuses had been in question with this ruling. The court could have instead upheld bans, which might have meant some of those states could have gone back to prohibiting gay marriage. Here's how the map of same-sex marriage laws will now change, as a result of this decision.