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In 1993 in Baehr v. Lewin, 74 Haw. 530; 852 P.2d 44, the Supreme Court of Hawaii’s decision to vacate a trial court’s refusal to hear a same sex marriage case, bought the issue of same sex marriage to the forefront. In Baehr, Nina Baehr (Plaintiff) sued the Department of Health (Defendant) because Defendant refused to issue her and her same-sex partner a marriage license. The trial granted Defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, thus dismissing the lawsuit. The Supreme Court of Hawaii vacated the trial court’s decision saying that Plaintiff was entitled to an evidentiary hearing on whether Hawaii Revised Statutes section 572-1 discriminated on the basis of sex by limiting marriage licenses to male-female couples. The court remanded the case to allow Ms. Baehr to pursue her equal protection rights.
In 1996, President William (Bill) Clinton signed a federal law entitled “The Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA). The enactment of DOMA provided that no state had to recognize another state’s laws regarding same sex marriage. In other words, Article IV section 1 of the United States Constitution (Full Faith and Credit) no longer applied to same sex marriage. DOMA, also, defined marriage as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife” thus providing that same sex marriage would not be recognized under federal law.
In 1999, the California Legislature enacted a statewide domestic partnership registry. Adding FC sections 297-299.6.
Proposition 22 was passed by the California voters in November of 2000. The passing of this initiative added section 308.5 to the Family Code which provides that: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Proposition 22 was one of a number of similar...

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...its. On July 15, the Supreme Court of California unanimously declined the request. On July 19, 2013 San Diego County clerk Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr. filed a petition asking the California Supreme Court to put same-sex weddings on hold until there could be a hearing on the merits. Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr. argued that the court should halt weddings while it considers the argument that the federal court ruling should apply only to the two couples who sued over Proposition 8, as well as to the county clerks in Alameda and Los Angeles counties, where the couples live.
On August 14, 2013, the California Supreme Court dismissed the Petition challenging the District Court decision by the proponents of Proposition 8 and also dismissed the Petition filed by the San Diego County Clerk, Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr. making California the ninth state to legalize same sex marriages.

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