The California Supreme Court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage today, ratifying a decision made by voters last year at a time when several state governments have moved in an opposite direction.<\/p>\n
The decision, however, preserves the 18,000 marriages performed between the court\u2019s decision last May that same-sex marriage was lawful and the passage by voters in November of Proposition 8, which banned it. Supporters of the proposition argued that the marriages should no longer be recognized.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s opinion, written by Chief Justice Ronald M. George for a 6-to-1 majority, said that same-sex couples still have the right to civil unions, which gives them the ability to \u201cchoose one\u2019s life partner and enter with that person into a committed, officially recognized, and protected family relationship that enjoys all of the constitutionally based incidents of marriage.\u201d\u009d But the justices said that the voters had clearly expressed their will to limit the formality of marriage to opposite-sex couples.<\/p>\n