California Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Same Sex Marriage

In a decision announced on May 26, 2009, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, the California voter initiative that bans same-sex marriages. The Court held that the roughly 18,000 gay couples who married while same sex marriages were legal in California will not have their marriages invalidated as laws are generally not applied retroactively and there was no language in Prop 8 to vary the general rule in that regard.
The California Supreme Court had previously upheld same sex marriages in a decision in May, 2008. Same sex marriage opponents responded with a voter initiative, Proposition 8, to amend the state constitution to prohibit same sex marriages. The Court has now held the voter initiative did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the state constitution and that the Court was required to uphold California's initiative process.
California does have laws granting legal rights and protections for registered "domestic partners" and laws prohibiting discrimination based on marital status and sexual orientation.
Same sex marriage is presently legal in Iowa, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.