Appeals court rejects California's ban on gay marriage

San Francisco (CNN) -- A federal appeals court ruled against California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage Tuesday, arguing the ban unconstitutionally singles out gays and lesbians for discrimination.

In a split decision, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the state's Proposition 8 "works a meaningful harm to gays and lesbians" by denying their right to civil marriage in violation of the 14th Amendment.

"Very soon, Proposition 8 will be gone forever," said Kristin Perry, one of two women who challenged the ban in federal courts along with a male same-sex couple. "Today marks the culmination of what has been a transformational year."

Supporters of Proposition 8, which passed with 52% of the vote in 2008, said they were willing to take the issue all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And a stay halting same-sex marriages remains in place as the appeals continue.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian legal foundation that backed Proposition 8, said it was not surprised that "this Hollywood-orchestrated attack on marriage -- tried in San Francisco -- turned out this way." But it said it was confident the Supreme Court would uphold "the expressed will of the American people." "No court should undercut the democratic process by taking the power to preserve marriage out of the hands of the people," it said.

Nevertheless, supporters of same-sex marriages cheered the decision when it was announced in San Francisco on Tuesday morning. "For me, it's a beautiful day," same-sex marriage activist Billy Bradford said. "But it's a great day for the Constitution."

Perry and her partner, Sandra Stier, are raising twin boys who will be ready to attend college next year. One of the boys, Spencer Perry, said he lived "in a home with a lot of love," but added, "Proposition 8 has done a really, really good job of trying to tear that love apart."

Tuesday's ruling affirms a 2010 decision by a U.S. district judge in San Francisco. In the majority opinion, Circuit Judges Stephen Reinhardt and Michael Daly Hawkins noted that they were speaking only to Proposition 8, and that other states would have to decide the issue of marriage themselves.

"For now, it suffices to conclude that the people of California may not, consistent with the federal Constitution, add to their state constitution a provision that has no more practical effect than to strip gays and lesbians of the right to use the official designation that the state and society give to committed relationships, thereby adversely affecting the status and dignity of the members of a disfavored class," the opinion states.