Calif. court likely to uphold Prop 8?

SAN FRANCISCO, March 5 (UPI) -- The California Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday on a referendum meant to reverse a court ruling that laws banning same-sex marriage are unconstitutional.

The court did not decide the issue Thursday but justices in San Francisco asked questions of attorneys in the case suggesting they lean toward upholding Proposition 8, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The proposition -- which amended the state Constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples -- was approved by a narrow margin in November.

"There have been initiatives that have taken away rights from minorities by majority vote," said Chief Justice Ronald George, who wrote the majority opinion in May. "Isn't that the system we have to live with?"

Gay rights groups demonstrated outside the court before the hearing.

"Taking away a civil right we had is a violent act," Stuart Milk, nephew of the late San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, told the crowd. "As Harvey would say, when you let the majority deprive the minority of their civil rights, you start a shopping list."

About 18,000 same-sex couples married in California before Proposition 8 passed. The seven justices appeared to agree unanimously that those unions are valid.

"When the highest court of the state declares that same-sex couples have the right to marry ... how can one deny the validity of those marriages?" said Justice Marvin Baxter, who was part of the three-justice minority in last May's landmark case.