Gay marriage ban overturned in Calif.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot.

Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George.

Outside the courthouse, gay marriage supporters cried and cheered as news spread of the decision.

"Our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation," the court wrote.

The city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples and gay rights groups sued in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco's monthlong same-sex wedding march.

"Today the California Supreme Court took a giant leap to ensure that everybody - not just in the state of California, but throughout the country - will have equal treatment under the law," said City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who argued the case for San Francisco.

Here is a look at laws on gay marriage and same-sex civil unions in the United States:

+ Massachusetts is the only U.S. state to allow gay marriage. Its highest court ruled in 2003 that a ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, paving the way for America's first same-sex marriages the following year.

+ Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Vermont permit same-sex civil unions that grant largely the same state rights as married couples -- from insurance coverage to tax benefits and hospital visiting rights -- but lack the full, federal legal protections of marriage.

+ California, Maine, the District of Columbia, Hawaii and Washington each offer gay couples some legal rights as partners.

+ Currently, 45 states have laws explicitly prohibiting same-sex marriage, including 26 with constitutional amendments restricting marriage to one man and one woman and 19 with statutory laws barring same-sex unions.

+ The patchwork of laws has caused some unusual complications. Rhode Island's top court, for example, ruled in December 2007 that a same-sex couple married in Massachusetts could not legally divorce in Rhode Island, saying the state's family court did not have authority over same-sex marriages.

+ Massachusetts currently allows out-of-state same-sex couples from just two states -- Rhode Island and New Mexico -- to marry there, since those states' laws do not clearly prohibit gay marriage.

+ More than 8,000 same-sex couples have married in Massachusetts.

+ The U.S. Supreme Court has not taken a case on gay marriage, leaving states to decide the issue.

+ The Arizona House of Representatives voted 33-25 on May 13 to put a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage on the statewide ballot in November.