SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN CALIFORNIA
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Same-sex marriage is not currently recognized in California. California became the second U.S. state after Massachusetts to make marriage licenses available to same-sex couples. The status of same-sex marriage in California has been a contentious political issue since at least the late 1970s, and recently has escalated with the passage of Proposition 22, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's 2004 decision to issue same-sex marriage licenses, and a 2008 California Supreme Court ruling regarding same-sex marriage. Additionally, pending the results of Proposition 8 and its subsequent legal challenges, the future status of same-sex marriage in California is undetermined at this time.

Months before the court's ruling, conservative groups who opposed same-sex marriage began circulating initiative petitions, one Petition #07-0068 (titled the "California Marriage Protection Act" by its proponents; titled the "Limit on Marriage" amendment for the ballot by the California Attorney General), having gathered an estimated 764,063 valid signatures, qualified for the November 4, 2008 ballot, as Proposition 8. The measure would add § 7.5 to Article I of the California Constitution mirroring the now-unenforceable Family Code § 308.5.

It would attempt to supersede that part of the Supreme Court's holding that authorized the granting of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Twelve other proposed amendments since 2004 had failed to qualify to be on the ballot. The ability of the voters to remove a fundamental constitutional right by initiative amendment has been called into question, and a lawsuit was filed on those grounds asking for the removal of Proposition 8 from the ballot. That lawsuit was dismissed on July 16, 2008.

On the day after the election, the results remained uncertified. With 100% of precincts reporting, the vote was 52.47% in favor of Proposition 8 and 47.53% against, with a difference of about 504,000 votes; as many as 3 million absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted. The organizers of the "No on Prop 8" campaign conceded defeat on November 6, issuing a statement saying, "Tuesday’s vote was deeply disappointing to all who believe in equal treatment under the law."

On November 5, 2008, three lawsuits were filed, challenging the validity of Proposition 8 on the grounds that revoking the right of same sex couples to marry was a constitutional "revision" rather than an "amendment", and therefore required the prior approval of 2/3 of each house of the California State Legislature. Plaintiffs in the various suits included same-sex couples who had married or planned to marry in the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles, and the county of Santa Clara. The California Supreme Court has agreed to listen to several challenges to Proposition 8 as early as March 2009. Meanwhile, an estimated 18,000 same sex marriages that were validated in California before the passage of Proposition 8 are still officially recognized.