Wedded to a cause: A woman and her son protest Proposition 8 on May 26 in Hollywood, Calif. Approved by voters in a November referendum, the measure amended California's Constitution to define marriage as only been a man and a woman. It overturned a May 2008 ruling by California's Supreme Court that struck down laws banning same-sex marriage. On May 26, the court upheld Proposition 8, but said that the 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place before Proposition 8's passage would remain valid.