California will become only the second U.S. state to allow gay and lesbian couples to tie the knot after the state's Supreme Court on Thursday (May 15) overturned a voter referendum that had banned same-sex marriages.
Twenty-three gay and lesbian couples had filed suit to challenge a 1977 law and the 2000 referendum that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled that barring gay couples from marriage violates the "fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship."
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Ronald George said opening marriage to same-sex couples "will not deprive opposite-sex couples of any rights and will not alter the legal framework of the institution of marriage."
Under the ruling, same-sex couples will be eligible for marriage licenses in 30 days, and the state will recognize gay marriages performed in other jurisdictions. Currently only Massachusetts allows gay marriage, as do five other countries, including Canada.
While gay rights group hailed the ruling as a watershed victory, opponents promised a no-holds-barred battle to amend the state constitution to explicitly ban same-sex marriages. If approved by voters in November, the amendment would trump the court's decision.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has twice vetoed a legislative attempt to allow gay marriages, but said he would oppose the November referendum and respect the state court's decision.
Justice Marvin Baxter, in a dissenting opinion, said the court's majority was imposing "by judicial fiat its own social policy views for those expressed by the people."
Several religious groups – including Mormons, the state's Catholic bishops, Orthodox Jews and the National Association of Evangelicals – had filed briefs asking the court to not allow gay couples to wed.
Conservatives, while bitterly disappointed, indicated they would use the decision to build momentum to pass the constitutional amendment. "This ruling will unite the people of California and will propel their efforts to amend the state constitution," said the Texas-based group Liberty Legal.
And, recognizing that they have been unable to ban gay marriage in the five years since Massachusetts' highest court approved it, conservatives know how big the stakes may be in Thursday's decision.
"The court has overturned not only the historic definition of marriage, but the clear will of the people of California," said the Washington-based Family Research Council. "The California Supreme Court has taken a jackhammer to the democratic process. ... This decision put marriage at risk all across the nation."
Gay groups, too, recognized that their struggle to attain marriage equality in the nation's most populous state is not yet over.
"I would love to tell you to take a day and sit back and enjoy this momentous victory," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign, in a fundraising appeal issued two hours after the court's ruling.
"In fact, sitting back is the reaction the right wing is hoping for. We can't afford to let them turn our success into their win."
One of the case's two lead plaintiffs was the Rev. Troy Perry, who founded the predominantly gay Metropolitan Community Church in 1968 and performed his first same-sex union ceremony a year later. Perry and his partner of 23 years, Phillip De Blieck, were legally married in Canada in 2003.
"I can't quit crying," Perry said in a phone interview just after the ruling was made public. "After 39 years of fighting for this, today thank God that the Supreme Court of the state of California ruled in favor of us."
Perry tempered his joy with the knowledge that "this is not the end of this struggle. There are still 45 states [that don't recognize same-sex unions in some way] that we have to work on."
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