"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court has declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, paving the way for a likely U.S. Supreme Court showdown on the voter-approved law.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled 2-1 Tuesday that a lower court judge interpreted the U.S. Constitution correctly in 2010 when he declared the ban, known as Proposition 8, to be a violation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians.

The measure, which passed with 52 percent of the vote in 2008, outlawed same-sex unions just five months after they became legal in the state.

Lawyers for Proposition 8 sponsors and for two couples who sued to overturn the ban have said they would appeal to the Supreme Court if they did not receive a favorable ruling from the 9th Circuit."

Never did Madison, a shameless slave owner, have better foresight than to help create an independent judiciary. It is not the only barrier but perhaps the best one from the Biggot lobby, folks who have theirs and spend their days and nights wanting to keep loving people who have a different preference to enjoy what they have under the pretense that granting that somehow threatens them.

Light surmounts heat. We will win this. For my wife and son! For all of us.

I really don't get how that Prop 8 passed in California. California

Baby steps to the 21st Century, but we'll get there eventually, I guess

I'm reading that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is notorious for overturning decisions. This issue is far from finished...

I personally don't get it, how someone elses gain is somehow their loss. I think some just want to extend their influence beyond the pulpit. All the media coverage is causing me to continually remember and relive some very painful events in my life. I am getting tired of it. The good side is that I realized that not everyone is going to be on the same page on this, nor should I expect it. I also realized that perhaps some people feel somehow threatened, like other people are telling them what to believe or not belive. I don't think its about that, but thats not my point of view.

Since we are talking about a political decision, let me say that I agree with Ron Paul on gay marriage: it should be a church matter! In other words, he's against ALL marriages being something involved with the law and so am I. As a hetero woman, I cannot understand why people still want to get married. Having a ceremony, vowing in front of a religious/spiritual/guy in a serape I get. But bringing the law into it? Very clinical and unappealing to me.

And may I add that I consider this one of the Top Five ways I believe we are being distracted. I notice that DADT was also overturned and then re-instated and now we can get into another tizzy again.

If that was all there was to it, the recognition of your spiritual community that you are "married" I could agree. However, there is so much more to it, tax and employment benefits, issue concerning offspring, family, belongings after death or when one partner becomes ill and/or incapacitated etc. If it's going to be an issue that has to do with all of those things it's interconnected and must be recognized in that context. Now, if the proposal is to extricate it from all of that I have to agree, it's nobody's business but your own.

Coco, in some areas they have domestic partner benefits (sometimes including hetero couples, which I think is only fair) and so the employment benefits cover those issues. If a couple wants, they can make a living will and stipulate various issues regarding belongings, health decisions, etc. Actually, even with married couples or parents' wills regarding children, it can still be contested. The idea that any agreement is iron-clad is probably fantasy. Personally, I don't live my life trying to cover all the bases. I can't imagine my partner's family ever denying me visitation rights or any of the other issues which are supposedly so pertinent to marriage. I think that would be an extreme situation. I know there are gay couples who have experienced this, but it's probably more a result of the family not accepting their relationship than the fact that they are unmarried. I would never get married for practical reasons. And I would never get married for romantic ones, either. So I guess that's why I choose not to do it at all, LOL