The Chief US District Judge Vaughn Walker, announced, in the trial on the constitutionality of California's gay marriage ban, that he has reached his decision on whether to uphold or overturn the voter-approved ban known as Proposition 8. His verdict comes in response to a lawsuit brought by two same-sex couples and the city of San Francisco seeking to invalidate the law as an unlawful infringement of gay and lesbians civil rights.

Prop. 8 - adressed to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California - is a statewide ballot proposition. On November 4, 2008, voters approved the measure and made same-sex marriage illegal in California. Proposition 8 adds a new amendment to the California Constitution which establishes: "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California". Before the approval of prop. 8, same-sex marriage was a constitutionally-protected right in California. The proposition reversed a ruling from the California Supreme Court, which declared that banning same-sex marriage was discriminatory.
On May 26, the California Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Proposition 8.

The verdict is expected today. Anyway attorneys on both sides have said an appeal was certain if Walker did not rule in their favor. The case would go first to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals then to the Supreme Court if the High Court's justices agree to review it.

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