HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Huntsville's celebration of the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 decision to end the 1996 federal ban on extending benefits to legally married same-sex couples will coalesce tonight, Wednesday, June 26, 2013, at 6 p.m., in the downtown Big Spring Park.

"However the decision went, we were going to gather either to console or to celebrate," said James Robinson, founder and director of the Huntsville-based GLBT Advocacy & Youth Services. "And this will be to celebrate."

Robinson, as perhaps the city's most prominent advocate for ending bullying against teenagers and particularly against gay and lesbian teens, was fielding a ringing phone, on-line messages and a steady stream of television reporters today into the GLBT Advocacy & Youth Services office at 2004 Poole Drive in Huntsville.

Local and national reaction to the decision, announced this morning, has roused a chorus of cheers from gay rights and family rights advocates on one hand and concern and some jeers from other groups that see marriage as something God ordained to be only between a man and a woman. Organizations across the spectrum on marriage equality are issuing statements on the ruling.

A longer story looking at local reaction and implications will be posted by The Huntsville Times and AL.com later today.