We are pleased with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling expanding the legal right of same-sex couples to marry nationwide.

Virginia has allowed gay couples to marry since October, thanks to a ruling from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

This new decision from the nation’s highest court, which was met with jubilation, eliminates the checkerboard approach to gay marriage that called into question the legal rights of gay couples just moving from state to state.

The ruling also eliminates any guesswork about whether a same-sex partner can be covered under family health insurance or receive survivor’s benefits or a pension.

Unfortunately, there are baulkers and foot-draggers in corners of the South and Bible Belt who continue to resist what is now the law of the land. They insist their recalcitrance is on religious grounds.

While no one is making a church marry anyone — just like the Catholic Church refuses to marry someone who has been divorced — the reaction smacks of the resentment that greets African-Americans today, decades after public accommodations laws opened restaurants, hotels and retail shops to black people.

We still are fighting the actions of people and companies that don’t want African-Americans around. Think of Denny’s and other restaurants that have been sued; think of the “black tax” the Ritz-Carlton in Charlotte, N.C., added during the CIAA tournament; think of the way African-Americans are followed when they shop in some retail stores; and think of redlining by the nation’s largest banks to prevent African-Americans for qualifying for home loans to keep us out of certain neighborhoods.

We, more than most, understand the feelings of embarrassment, hurt and stress these demeaning situations engender. And we continue to advocate in the courts and the streets to create a society that treats people equally.

So we call on the community to embrace the change historically written into law by the Supreme Court that gives gay couples the same right to wholeness afforded heterosexual couples.

The clock has turned. No one should have to go back.