Same-sex marriage: JK Rowling, Tim Cook and Hillary Clinton lead Twitter celebrations after landmark Supreme Court equality ruling

'Today is a big step in our march toward equality'

(Associated Press)

Same-sex couples in America have been granted the right to marry following a Supreme Court ruling – and the whole world is celebrating.

The landmark 5-4 ruling gives gay and lesbian couples anywhere in the US the right to marry. Within minutes, the hashtag #lovewins was trending.

Same-sex couples could already marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia, but the ruling means the remaining 14 states will have to stop enforcing their bans.

President Obama led jubilant messages supporting the decision from key figures across the world, praising the move as “a big step in our march toward equality”. His tweet was shared more 70,000 times in less than 30 minutes, while actors, politicians, activists and other notebale figures from across the world also expressed their joy at the news.

Here are just a few of their reactions:

The avatar on the White House's official Twitter page was rainbow coloured almost immediately after the announcement.

"As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death.

"It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfilment for themselves.

"Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilizations oldest insitutions.

"They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."