California gay marriage ban vote to proceed

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California voters will have the chance to vote in November on whether to end gay marriage after the state's top court declined on Wednesday to remove an initiative on the issue from the ballot.

California, the nation's most populous state, started marrying same-sex couples a month ago after the California Supreme Court ruled that limiting marriage to a man and a woman violated the state's constitution.

Opponents of gay marriage then placed an initiative to amend the constitution on the November ballot. "Proposition 8" declares that marriage will be limited to one man with one woman.

In the latest phase of a bitter legal battle, supporters of homosexual marriage asked the California Supreme Court to remove the issue from the ballot. The court unanimously denied the petition without detailed comment.

The referendum will appear on the same ballot as the presidential and congressional elections. It requires a simple majority for approval.

"We're disappointed, but this ruling does not affect the campaign against Prop 8 in any way," said a group of organizations fighting for gay rights including the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lambda Legal.

The Campaign for Children and Families, a traditional marriage group which has suffered a series of recent legal setbacks on the issue, hailed the latest twist.

"This is great news and not unexpected in light of the homosexual activists' undemocratic, intolerant and extraordinary attack upon the voters' right to vote," the group's president Randy Thomasson said in a statement.

California is the second U.S. state after Massachusetts to allow gay marriage, but is the only one to issue the licenses to couples from other states.

(Reporting by Adam Tanner, editing by Alan Elsner)