Marriage Law Milestones

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1661: Maryland enacts the first anti-miscegenation law in what would later become the United States.

1850: Soon after California becomes a state, legislators follow other states by banning marriage between whites and "negroes or mulattoes."

1880: California Legislature adds "Mongolians" into the ban in an effort to exclude Asians from marrying whites.

1933: California Legislature adds "members of the Malay race" into the ban, rejecting years of advocacy by Filipino leaders seeking equal marriage rights.

1947: Andrea Perez and Sylvester Davis try getting married in Los Angeles. County clerk refuses because she is white and he is black. Later, a lawyer, Dan Marshall, will help the Catholic couple sue to marry on the basis of religious liberty.

1948: In Perez v. Sharp, California Supreme Court sides with Los Angeles couple in a 4-3 ruling. Justice Roger Traynor, author of the majority opinion, goes beyond freedom of religion argument in calling marriage to the person of one's choice a "fundamental right."

1967: In Loving v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, unanimously declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional nationwide.

1977: California Legislature enacts law that rules marriage must be between "a man and a woman." In 2000, a voter-approved initiative strengthens the ban on same-sex marriage.

2008: Drawing on the Perez v. Sharp case, California Supreme Court rules 4-3 in May that same-sex marriage should also be a fundamental right. In November, voter-approved Proposition 8 overrides the court by eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry.

May 26: The California Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8 but also decides that the estimated 18,000 gay couples who tied the knot before the law took effect may stay wed.