SAN FRANCISCO (BP)--The California Supreme Court today issued a landmark decision, ordering the state to legalize "gay marriage" and making it the second state in the nation to recognize "marriages" between homosexual couples.

The decision sets up a dramatic political and cultural battle in November, when a constitutional marriage amendment that would protect the natural definition of marriage - and reverse the court's ruling - is expected to be on the ballot.

The 4-3 ruling comes more than three years after Massachusetts' highest court also struck down that state's marriage laws. But the California ruling - coming in the nation's most populous states - easily is the biggest win yet for homosexual activists.

The court struck down Proposition 22, a law passed in 2000 to prohibit "gay marriage" and protect the natural definition of marriage. Voters approved it by a margin of 61-39 percent.

"e determine that the language of limiting the designation of marriage to a union 'between a man and a woman' is unconstitutional and must be stricken from the statute, and that the remaining statutory language must be understood as making the designation of marriage available both to opposite-sex and same-sex couples," Chief Justice Ronald George wrote for the court.

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