Every loving, committed couple wants the same thing: to have the opportunity to start a family and share their lives together. Marriage is the strongest foundation for all families. Marriage gives children a stable, loving environment to grow up in with positive role models, a path to a bright future and opportunities to achieve their full potential.

Simply put, marriage says "we are family" in a way no other word can. Everyone deserves this opportunity – no matter who you love. But for too long, politicians put their own ideology in the way of equality under the law.

America was founded upon the fundamental values of fairness, equality and justice. When we discriminate against Americans based solely upon who they love, we fail to uphold these principles, and put loving committed couples through real anguish by denying thousands of rights and protections – from access to medical treatment, tax fairness, and the ability to visit the person you love the most in the hospital, even to say goodbye in their final hours.

But not anymore. The US supreme court has spoken this week, and the US Constitution is clear: the federal government must officially recognize the marriages of all Americans. This was a breathtaking and powerful moment years in the making, led by the fierce and unyielding advocacy of some of the most inspiring individuals and couples I have ever had the honor of fighting side by side with.

But this does not mean our journey to full equality for every American is complete. Congress still has more work to do. The US supreme court's decision leaves intact a section of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act that allows states to refuse to recognize the marriages of LGBT couples from other states.

This has to change. To finally sweep the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (Doma) into the dustbin of history for good where it belongs, Congress needs to do its part, and pass legislation I am fighting my hardest for called the Respect for Marriage Act.

This strong, bipartisan bill that I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of would fully repeal every last corrosive bit of Doma and ensure every loving couples' commitment to each other is seen equally, no matter which of these great United States you live in.

As the civil rights Leader Dr Martin Luther King, Jr said, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice". This is unquestionably the direction history is moving. Support for same sex marriage grows stronger every day from coast to coast, with more than a dozen states from California to Iowa, from Maine to Maryland, and my home state of New York, home to the LGBT capital of the world, to the District of Columbia, our nation's capital. These are places where Democrats and Republicans came together and declared the freedom to marry means freedom for everyone, and codified that freedom into their laws.

But more than that, they came together as Americans who want what is best for our country. A stronger America starts with strong families, built by loving parents raising children under one roof, giving them the best future they possibly can.

That is a common core value we all share. That is who we are. And this is simply the right thing to do. I am confident we will continue on the path to full equality that America's founders dreamed of, and what loving, committed couples across America deserve.