A law which blocked same-sex couples in California from being married was ruled unconstitutional and overturned Tuesday, marking a significant victory for proponents of marriage equality.
In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that "Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples."
The law was passed in 2009 after it was approved on a statewide ballot by 52% of voters. Prior to that, California allowed same-sex couples to wed.
Civil rights organization Lambda Legal declared after the ruling that "the tide is not turning; it has turned; and we are glad to see the Ninth Circuit join the right side of history."
California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who as mayor of San Francisco approved same-sex marriages, called the ruling "the biggest step that the American judicial system has taken to end the grievous discrimination against men and women in same-sex relationships and should be highly praised."
On the other side of all the celebrating is the Alliance Defense Fund. They had fought to keep the ban in place and quickly announced they will appeal the court's ruling.
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, though, says any appeal to the Supreme Court might fail because the narrow language of the ruling really limits its impact to only California, so it does not seem to have national implications.
"This might well be the last word on the case," he said.
Currently there are six states which allow same-sex marriages: New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and Iowa.
And a seventh doesn't appear to be far away, after Washington's state senate approved a bill to allow the practice just last week. Same-sex marriages there could begin as early as this summer.
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