Homosexual couples in California are set to be granted marriage licenses for the first time.

The move follows a decision last month by the state Supreme Court to overturn a ban on same-sex marriage.

One of the first to exchange vows will be veteran gay-rights campaigners Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 83, who have been together for 56 years.

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First to wed

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, who has been a prominent advocate of same-sex marriage, will officiate at the wedding of Ms Martin and Ms Lyon.

It was Mr Newsom's 2004 decision to issue marriage licenses to gay couples - including Ms Lyon and Ms Martin - which began the long drawn-out political and legal battle that led eventually to the California Supreme Court's ruling last month.

A referendum in 2000 approved a law specifying that marriage in California could only be between a man and a woman.

The 2004 marriage ceremonies were a direct challenge to this law, and were ruled illegal by judges.

But civil rights campaigners appealed against the ruling, and their arguments were accepted by the San Francisco Superior Court.

And although the lower court's ruling was overturned by the California Court of Appeal in 2006, this ruling was itself reversed last month by the state's Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, state legislators approved a law allowing same-sex marriages, but it was vetoed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said that the courts should decide the issue.

'Tight election'

Opponents of same-sex unions have now gathered enough signatures to put another law outlawing gay marriage before California voters in a referendum scheduled for this November.

But large numbers of gay couples - from across the US - are expected to get married in California before that time, partly in the hope that voters will be less inclined to vote for the law if it would mean splitting up married couples.

"It's going to be a very tight election come November," said Jeff Kors, executive director of the gay rights group Equality California.

"The more people see their friends and family get married, the more they will be comfortable with the idea."

Public opinion in California appears to be more favourable to gay marriage than was the case when the law banning it was passed in 2000.

A recent poll indicated that 52% of Californians supported same-sex marriages, with 41% opposed.

(BBC)

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