By Jennifer Riley-Collins

As many of you know I am a proud Mississippian. I am also very proud to be the Executive Director of the ACLU of MS. I hope that today the two align like never before. Today, SCOTUS ruled that all people have a right to equality. Once before, when that was the ruling of the high court the State of MS was purposefully slow and put barriers in place to prevent equality from being recognized.

This morning the MS Atty General issued guidance to Circuit Clerks that they were not allowed to issues licenses to couples until the 5th Circuit lifted its stay. Even though the SCOTUS decision came down several hours ago, we are waiting on the Court to lift its stay. We are hopeful that the Court will see as Judge Reeves did that no person should be treated as a second class citizen and will lift the stay of his order recognizing the right to marry. We are hopeful that Mississippi's officials will embrace everyone and will not attempt to set up barriers to this momentous decision.

I pray that the State of Mississippi is on the right side of history this time. Aren't we tired of being last?