California Supreme Court Prop 8 Decision: Ban Upheld

The California Supreme Court today upheld a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. It also decided, however, that about 18,000 gay couples who had already married will stay married.

Today’s decision refutes gay rights activists’ argument that the ban revised the California constitution’s so dramatically that it first needed to be approved by the Legislature.

The announced decision caused an outcry amid the thousands of demonstrators who had been waiting in front of the San Francisco courthouse.

By 52 percent to 48 percent, voters had approved the measure reinstating the same-sex marriage ban on after the state Supreme Court approved such marriages.

About 18,000 were left in limbo who had been married between May and November of 2008.

The chances of overturning the initiative were seen as slim. Gay rights attorneys had no solid legal precedent to stand on and some of the court’s earlier holdings on constitutional revisions mildly undercut their arguments.