Effectively, Wednesday’s Prop 8 ruling left in place a San Francisco federal district court ruling that overturned the law. In two landmark cases decided this week, the court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage.īeginning with the Defense of Marriage Act, the majority declared the 1996 law - which barred same-sex couples legally married in their home states from receiving benefits available to other married couples under federal law - “unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment.”Īlso in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court struck down California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 referendum that banned same-sex marriages in the state. The United States Supreme Court has ruled and, for LGBT people, the celebration begins this weekend.
