Same-sex marriage ban upheld by court
Ruling says change can come only from voters or Legislature
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, October 6, 2006

Gays and lesbians have no constitutional right to marry in California, and any change giving them that right must come from state lawmakers or the voters rather than the legal system, a state appeals court declared Thursday.

The 2-1 decision reversed a lower-court ruling in favor of plaintiffs who were among the thousands of gays and lesbians who married at San Francisco City Hall in 2004. It cleared the way for both sides to argue their case before the state Supreme Court, which will have the final say on whether the courts can give same-sex couples the right to marry.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer ruled last year that a 1977 state law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman violated the state Constitution by denying gays and lesbians the right to marry the partners of their choice. Kramer also found that the law discriminated on the basis of sex. the rest