May 16, 2008 | Sex & Society

California Supreme Court confirms right to gay marriage

The California Supreme Court ruled yesterday that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. The 4-to-3 decision effectively struck down state laws limiting marriages to unions between a man and a woman.

"In view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship," Chief Justice Ronald M. George argued for the majority. "The California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples."

The majority went on to say that even though California already provides domestic partnership laws for gays and lesbians it just isn't the same. The court would, however, allow a new term to be used to reflect state-sanctioned unions but only if such a term was used for all couples, gay or straight.

"But a bare majority of this court," Justice Marvin R. Baxter wrote for the minority, "not satisfied with the pace of democratic change, now abruptly forestalls that process and substitutes, by judicial fiat, its own social policy views for those expressed by the people themselves."

Conservative groups are now looking to amend the state's constitution in order to legally ban same-sex marriage. They have gathered 1 million signatures on petitions to put the issue to voters at the next state election.

One day, Bert and Ernie. One day ...