Aug. 4, 2010 (Bloomberg) -- A federal judge overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriage, or Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment passed by 52 percent of the state’s voters in 2008.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco sided today with the city of San Francisco and couples from Berkeley and Burbank, who argued that the amendment deprives gays and lesbians of equal rights and protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution. The case was the nation’s first federal trial over whether it is legal to ban marriage by people of the same sex.
The amendment outlawed same-sex marriage after it was legalized by the state Supreme Court five months earlier. Walker’s decision will probably be appealed and the case may ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The plaintiffs demonstrated by “overwhelming evidence” that Proposition 8 violates constitutional equal protection rights, Walker said in his ruling, which prohibits California from enforcing the ban.
