California legalized gay marriage on June 16, 2008, when the state Supreme Court’s decision in In re Marriage Cases took effect. That window closed five months later when voters approved Proposition 8. Same-sex marriages resumed permanently on June 28, 2013, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Hollingsworth v. Perry left a federal court order striking down Proposition 8 in place.
The First Window: June 2008
In May 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled in In re Marriage Cases that the state constitution’s equal protection clause prohibited denying same-sex couples the right to marry. The court held that the right to marry the person of one’s choosing was a fundamental liberty that could not be restricted based on sexual orientation.1Supreme Court of California. In re Marriage Cases
California had already built a robust domestic partnership system under the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act, which took effect January 1, 2005, and gave registered partners nearly all the state-level rights of married spouses. The court acknowledged that domestic partnerships granted “virtually all of the same substantive legal benefits and privileges” as marriage, but found that reserving the word “marriage” exclusively for opposite-sex couples imposed a separate and unequal status that carried constitutional weight on its own.1Supreme Court of California. In re Marriage Cases
The decision became final on June 16, 2008. County clerks began processing marriage license applications for same-sex couples the following day, making California the second state to legalize same-sex marriage after Massachusetts. Because California did not impose a residency requirement, out-of-state couples also traveled in to marry. Over the next five months, an estimated 18,000 same-sex couples wed under full state legal protection.
Proposition 8 Shuts the Window
Opponents of the ruling placed Proposition 8 on the November 2008 ballot, a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.2California Secretary of State. Proposition 8 – Title and Summary – Voter Information Guide 2008 Voters approved it on November 4, 2008, by a margin of 52 to 48 percent. The amendment took effect the next day, and county clerks immediately stopped issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The California Supreme Court addressed what Proposition 8 meant for the roughly 18,000 couples already married. In Strauss v. Horton, decided in May 2009, the court upheld Proposition 8 as a valid amendment but held that it could not be applied retroactively. Those existing marriages remained fully valid under California law.3Supreme Court of California. Strauss v. Horton No new same-sex marriages could be performed in the state, however, and that remained true for the next four and a half years.
June 28, 2013: Marriages Resume Permanently
While Proposition 8 was settled in state court, two same-sex couples challenged it in federal court, arguing that it violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. On August 4, 2010, Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional and issued an injunction barring California officials from enforcing it. The order was stayed pending appeal.
California’s governor and attorney general declined to defend the amendment, leaving its original ballot proponents to carry the appeal. On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Hollingsworth v. Perry. Rather than ruling on the merits, the court held that the private proponents lacked standing to appeal because they had no personal injury and no official role in enforcing the law.4Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Hollingsworth v. Perry, 570 US 693 (2013)
That left Judge Walker’s original district court order in place. Two days later, on June 28, 2013, the Ninth Circuit lifted its stay, and same-sex marriages resumed in California. This is the date the question was effectively settled for the state. Couples who had waited since November 2008 could finally marry.
Federal Recognition Through Windsor
Legal marriage under California law did not automatically mean recognition by the federal government. Under the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal government refused to recognize any same-sex marriage for taxes, Social Security, immigration, or other federal programs. A couple married in California in 2008 could file a joint state tax return but had to file as single individuals with the IRS.
The same day it decided Hollingsworth, the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act in United States v. Windsor, finding that it “diminish[ed] the stability and predictability of basic personal relations” by forcing legally married same-sex couples to live as married under state law but unmarried under federal law.5Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. United States v. Windsor, 570 US 744 (2013)
The IRS then announced that all legally married same-sex couples would be treated as married for federal tax purposes regardless of where they lived. Couples could file joint federal returns, claim spousal deductions, and access tax-free employer health benefits for spouses, and some could file amended returns to reclaim overpaid taxes for prior open tax years going back to 2010.6Internal Revenue Service. Same-Sex Marriages Now Recognized for Federal Tax Purposes Social Security survivor benefits, veterans’ benefits, federal employee health insurance, and immigration sponsorship followed.
Obergefell Locks In the Federal Rule
Marriage equality had been restored in California for nearly two years when the U.S. Supreme Court settled the question nationally. On June 26, 2015, the court held in Obergefell v. Hodges that the Fourteenth Amendment requires every state to license marriages between same-sex couples and to recognize such marriages performed elsewhere.7Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 US 644 (2015) For California, the ruling provided a federal constitutional backstop to the state’s existing marriages and resolved any lingering question about recognition in other states.
Proposition 3 Rewrites the State Constitution
Even after Obergefell rendered it unenforceable, Proposition 8’s language stayed on the books in Article I of the California Constitution: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” On November 5, 2024, voters approved Proposition 3 by roughly 63 to 37 percent, repealing that language and adding a new Section 7.5 declaring that “the right to marry is a fundamental right.”8California Secretary of State. Proposition 3 Text of Proposed Laws
Proposition 3 did not change who could marry in practice. It wrote an affirmative right to marry into the state constitution for the first time, so California law independently protects marriage equality regardless of what happens at the federal level.