End of Road for Gay Marriage Ban Fight

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - The legal fight against same-sex marriage in California is effectively over, with the state's highest court rejecting an appeal from gay marriage ban proponents to keep the ban in place.

In a one-page order, the California Supreme Court denied a request to block same-sex marriages from going forward. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that official proponents of California's Proposition 8 lacked standing to defend the initiative.

Same-sex couples have been marrying in California ever since, despite the backers' attempts to halt them.

While the high court avoided ruling on the issue of gay marriage itself, its decision left in place an August 2010 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker that the ban violated the constitutional rights of same-sex couples.

In a July 2013 last-ditch effort to block statewide gay marriage via the California Supreme Court, the proponents argued that Walker's ruling should apply only to the two couples who filed the original federal complaint: a lesbian couple from Berkeley and a gay couple from Los Angeles.

San Diego County clerk Ernest Dronenberg filed a separate petition claiming he was still legally required to abide by Prop. 8. He then requested dismissal of the petition, which the California Supreme Court granted.

Attorney Austin Nimrocks with the pro-Prop. 8 Alliance Defending Freedom said unresolved legal issues about the initiative's enforcement remain.

"It is unfortunate that the California Supreme Court chose not to decide the important, still-unresolved questions about the enforcement of Proposition 8, the law of the land in California. Regrettably, an executive branch that has turned a blind eye to the enforcement of its state's constitution has silenced more than seven million Californians who clearly expressed their views about marriage," Nimrocks said in a statement. "The court's decision today, however, does not end the debate about marriage in California."

San Francisco city attorney Dennis Herrera voiced his disapproval over continued resistance to gay marriage in California. "By now, I suppose we know better than to predict that Prop. 8 proponents will actually give up their fight," Herrera said in a statement. "But it's certainly fair to say that their remaining legal options are increasingly absurd. The fundamental right of gay and lesbian couples to marry in California is secure, and I'm pleased our state high court recognized that today."

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