MINNEAPOLIS — A U.S. Supreme Court decision Wednesday extending federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples was met with jubilation in Minnesota, barely six weeks after the state moved to legalize gay marriage.

“I’m overjoyed,” said Sen. Scott Dibble, a gay state lawmaker who co-sponsored the Minnesota law that takes effect Aug. 1. He called the high court ruling a “great story of our democracy.”

“Personally, I’m now recognized as married in the eyes of my own federal government to my husband, which means that the freedoms in our Constitution as citizens of this country are guaranteed to us as well,” Dibble said. “But also that so many people now can just get on with their business of taking care of each other, working hard, building a life together, because they can access those federal rights, benefits and responsibilities.”

Supporters of same-sex marriage say that 1,138 federal laws that had offered rights or protections only to straight couples will now cover legally married gay couples.

That includes things like the right to file federal taxes jointly, improved access to health care coverage for spouses of federal employees, improved immigration rights, access to a spouse’s Social Security benefits and a broad range of tax benefits, said Ann Kaner-Roth, executive director of Project 515. The group has worked to get same-sex couples equal rights and takes its name from 515 Minnesota state laws that it said protected only heterosexual couples.