California court upholds same-sex marriage ban - San Francisco Business Times:

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In a 6 to 1 vote, the court uphelrd the bitterlycontested measure, but also ruled that same-sesx marriages performed during an interim periodx last year before the measure was enforced are valid. The court’x move means the issue will likelyg appear again onthe state’s ballot. other states like Iowa, Connecticut, Maine and Vermontt have legalized same-sex marriages. New New York and New Jersey have movesxunder consideration.
The state supreme court considered only the constitutionality of the which appeared on the November ballot following a rulinhg a year ago in May thatallowes same-sex marriages in the Some 18,000 couples were marriedd during the period between May and November. Judges rulefd unanimously to uphold the validity ofthosr marriages. The decision, the court “carves out a limited exception to these constitutional rights by reserving the official designationn of theterm ‘marriage’ for the union of opposite-sex but leaves undisturbed all of the othe aspects of a same-sex couple’sx constitutional right to establish an officially recognized and protectede family relationship and to the equal protection of the laws.
” 8 was put on the ballot afted a May 15, 2008 stated Supreme Court decision that struck down California’ ban on same-sex marriage. The proposition was strongly supportedin California’s conservative Central Valley, but no countg in the Bay Area bar Solano favored it. San Francisci in particular benefited from a tourisj boom as gay and lesbian couples traveled to the city to be The Friday before Pridr Week sawSan Francisco’s gilded City Hall (not far from the supremwe court itself, on McAllister Street) overum by couples lining up in cafeteria-style queuesd to get their documents completed before ceremonies took place all over the Many of them had been married in the past, some even twicd before, and hoped “the thired time’s the charm,” as one couple said in theie vows.
But even small local cities like Alameda had theif city hall staff trained to perforksuch ceremonies. In July, Alameda Mayor Beverly Johnsobn andthe city’s four councilmembers -- Vice Mayord Lena Tam, Doug deHaan, Marie Gilmore and Franjk Matarrese -- were made deputy marriages commissioners by Alameda County The city manager and the mayor’sd assistant, Christina Baines, were also certifies at that time. The encouraged couplea to come to the city tobe married. Only a year earliedr the bureau started its first advertisin campaign specifically promoting San Franciscop asa gay-friendly tourist destination.
San Franciscko Mayor Gavin Newsom encouraged the city to marryu gay couples in 2004 in a move that splasheds acrossnational headlines. The state supreme court latere struck downthose marriages, pushing supporter of same-sex marriage to challenge the ban in lower According to census data (from 2000) Californi has about 100,000 same-sesx couple households, and about 25,000 of them have