(source)

Siddiqui Ray is lifted in the air by spouse Liz McElhinney after they got married at City Hall in San Francisco, February 15, 2004. Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples, some from across the country, lined up outside San Francisco’s City Hall to be wed.

That’s a BIG YES!!!

The California Supreme Court has ruled in favor of allowing same sex couples to marry, overturning the current ban on same sex marriage. In a 4 to 3 ruling, the group of Justices on the Court is the second group to tell a state that it cannot deny same sex couples from tying the knot. Massachusetts is the first state to allow same sex marriage in the U.S. This decision comes after a long series of other steps forward, and that many more steps back. The state has 30 days to comply with the judgment.

From the Court:

“We therefore conclude that although the provisions of the current domestic partnership legislation afford same-sex couples most of the substantive elements embodied in the constitutional right to marry, the current California statutes nonetheless must be viewed as potentially impinging upon a same-sex couple’s constitutional right to marry under the California Constitution.”

With the ruling, California becomes the second state to allow same-sex couples to legally wed. Massachusetts adopted the practice in 2004, and couples don’t need to be state residents to wed there. 

Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Connecticut permit civil unions, while California has a domestic-partner registration law. More than a dozen other states give gay couples some legal rights.

Several other jurisdictions around the world have legalized same-sex marriage: Belgium, Canada,  Netherlands, Spain, and South Africa.

Click HERE to download ruling.