California's top court has ruled that a state law banning marriage between same-sex couples is unconstitutional.

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The ban was approved by voters in 2000 but challenged by gay rights activists and the city of San Francisco.

California's legislature has twice passed laws to make gay marriage legal but the state governor has vetoed them.

The ruling paves the way for California to become only the second US state, after Massachusetts, to allow same-sex marriage, although more challenges are expected.

The seven-judge panel voted 4-3 in favour of the plaintiffs who argued that the 2000 law was discriminatory.

"Limiting the designation of marriage to a union 'between a man and a woman' is unconstitutional and must be stricken from the statute," California Chief Justice Ron George said in the written opinion.

The decision is expected to re-invigorate the fight for same-sex marriage rights nationwide, say gay activists.

California currently offers same-sex couples who register as domestic partners the same legal rights and responsibilities as married men and women.

Other states, such as Vermont and New Jersey, have similar civil union provisions.

Proposition 22

The judges on California's Supreme Court heard arguments for and against the legality of the ban in March.

The law, approved by Californians in a 2000 referendum and known as Proposition 22, states that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognised in California".

Gay rights group Equality California was joined by nearly two dozen gay couples and the city of San Francisco in bringing the case after hundreds of gay marriages conducted in 2004 were ruled invalid.

In early 2004, San Francisco became the first place in the US where gay couples were able to marry after the city's Mayor Gavin Newsom authorised same-sex marriage licences, claiming existing legislation was discriminatory.

In August of that year, California's Supreme Court ruled the mayor had overstepped his authority and nullified the unions.

That action prompted the lawsuit the state's top court has now ruled on.

(BBC)

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