Ban on Same Sex Marriage lifted in California, Gay Couples rushed to marry

Same-sex couples rushed to San Francisco’s City Hall on Friday to be legally married after an appeal court officially ended California’s ban on gay marriage following a landmark ruling at the Supreme Court this week.

Within moments of the ruling, couples, officials and activists began to converge on San Francisco City Hall, where unions were due to resume immediately.

Meanwhile, the couple whose case sparked this week’s Supreme Court decision exchanged vows in a ceremony officiated by state Attorney General Kamala Harris.

“This is really a great day,” said Sandy Stier, who with her fiancée Kristin Perry filed the lawsuit against Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage in California in 2008.

California, which briefly allowed marriages in 2008, now becomes the 13th state, and the largest, to allow gay marriage.