SAN FRANCISCO, March 16: The San Francisco Superior Court has struck down the California state laws that limit marriage to “a man and a woman”. “No rational basis exists for limiting marriage in this state to opposite-sex partners,” wrote San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer. “Same-sex marriage cannot be prohibited solely because California has always done so before.”

The ruling does not mean that gay and lesbian couples in California can immediately wed. The decision will be stayed to allow an appeal, which opponents of the same-sex marriage say they plan to file. The case is likely to end up before the California Supreme Court, which is not expected to rule until next year.

But both sides in the heated arguments over the same-sex marriage predicted that the ruling would intensify a dispute that has roiled the nation since 2003, when the highest court in Massachusetts declared that gay couples had a right to marry under that state’s Constitution.

Congressman Rick Santorum said the ruling strengthened the case for an amendment to the US Constitution. “Today’s lower court ruling in California and other court rulings further support the need for a constitutional amendment to protect marriage from activist judges,” he said.