LOS ANGELES (AP) – Ellen DeGeneres is putting the California Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage into action – she and Portia de Rossi plan to wed, DeGeneres announced during a taping of her talk show.

DeGeneres was taping the episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on May 15, the day the state’s high court struck down California laws against same-sex marriage.

Citing the court’s ruling on the episode, which aired the next day, DeGeneres said she and girlfriend de Rossi (“Ally McBeal,” “Nip/Tuck”) would be getting married.

De Rossi, 35, who was in the studio, and DeGeneres, 50, were applauded by audience members, the person close to the production said.

Calls and e-mails late Thursday to DeGeneres’ publicist were not immediately returned.

The court ruling means same-sex couples could tie the knot in as little as a month. However, religious and social conservatives are seeking to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that would undo the Supreme Court ruling and ban same-sex marriage.

DeGeneres has boldly used TV before to make a stand for gay rights.

In 1997, she brought her character on the ABC sitcom “Ellen” out of the closet, making the show the first on prime-time network TV to have an openly gay lead. The move drew cheers from gay civil rights organizations but was condemned by some religious groups.

A month before, DeGeneres had proclaimed from the cover of Time magazine that she was a lesbian.

She and ABC later battled over how to present gay-themed scripts, with DeGeneres at one point threatening to quit “Ellen” when the network placed an “adult content” warning on an episode in which her character, Ellen Morgan, jokingly kissed a heterosexual female friend.

After her sitcom was canceled and another flopped, DeGeneres found success with her Emmy-winning talk show that debuted in 2003.

Last month, when Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared on DeGeneres’ show and voiced support for fair treatment for same-sex couples, DeGeneres responded: “That’s all we want is to be fair. I like it. I like it.”

DeGeneres and the glamorous de Rossi have been a familiar couple at Hollywood events, including the Academy Awards. Previously, DeGeneres had a high-profile relationship with actress Anne Heche.

In a 2005 interview with Allure magazine, the comedian said she hoped she and de Rossi are “together the rest of our lives.”

“I never would have thought my life would have turned out this way,” DeGeneres told the magazine. “To have money. Or to have a gorgeous girlfriend. I just feel so lucky with everything in my life right now.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney says he’s disappointed California’s Supreme Court has followed the Bay State in legalizing same-sex marriage.

The former Republican presidential contender said he was disappointed “to see one more time a one-vote majority of a state Supreme Court overturn the will of its people.” He made the comments Friday at an annual convention of the National Rifle Association in Louisville.

In November 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court approved same-sex marriages, which began taking place the following May. Romney supported an amendment to the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, but the Legislature thwarted that effort.

Now California’s high court also has struck down laws barring same-sex marriages.

A day after California’s Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples in that state can marry, an initiative to repeal Maine’s gay rights law and reaffirm a law against same-sex marriages continued to move forward Friday.

Maine election officials said they expect to give the Christian Civic League of Maine the go-ahead next week to start a petition drive aimed at sending their proposal to the Legislature next year. The league and its supporters would have to collect at least 55,087 voter signatures to do so.

With the Legislature’s likely rejection of the proposal, the question would go to Maine’s voters no sooner than November 2009.

The civic league’s proposal would repeal Maine’s law protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodation, credit and education. It bars the use of state funds by the attorney general’s office for its civil rights teams and civil rights programs in public schools.

The proposed law also provides that only one unmarried person or one married couple jointly may adopt a person. It reaffirms Maine’s law that now prohibits marriage by persons of the same sex and prohibits clerks from issuing marriage licenses to persons of the same sex.

The initiative would also prohibit municipalities from licensing civil unions, and deny recognition in Maine to civil unions licensed in other states.

The state has been refining the wording of the bill with the civic league since it first submitted its proposal in early April. With the wording finalized, the stage is set to approve the circulation of petitions next week, spokesman Don Cookson of the Secretary of State’s office said Friday.

Michael Heath, executive director of the civic league, said his group’s effort took root well before Thursday’s California Supreme Court decision.

“On a strategic level, this goes back to 1990, when we decided that the Legislature would eventually create special rights based on sexual misbehavior,” Heath said.

Still, his group is “outraged” by the California decision and is confident Maine voters won’t let the same happen in their state.

“The people are not as confused about these things as the lawyers and judges and politicians,” Heath said.

Betsy Smith, executive director of EqualityMaine, which advocates for gays, called the California decision “a victory for all Americans who cherish fairness and opportunity.”

Smith said Friday her group is pleased that the language in the initiative “says what really is at stake here.” Smith said volunteer “truth squads” will offer advice to voters before they sign petitions circulated by Heath’s group at the polls on June 10.

“We want to make sure voters know what they’re signing,” Smith said.

Also planning to have petitions at the polls June 10 are leaders of an unrelated people’s veto campaign aimed at erasing a new state law that bolsters Maine driver’s license requirements to bring the state into closer compliance with the federal Real ID Act.

In Portland, two leaders of referendums aimed at challenging the law appeared together Friday to kick off their campaign that will also circulate petitions on June 10.

The appearance of Kathleen McGee of Bowdoinham and Donna Bendiksen of Portland along with others showed a united front for a petition drive aimed at collecting 55,087 signatures by July 17 to put the proposal on the November ballot.

Critics described Real ID as an unwanted invasion of privacy as well as an unfunded mandate on states. They said it would do little, if anything, to boost security.

“I’m not afraid to get on an airplane with my neighbors. I’m not afraid to get on a bus or a train with my neighbors. I am, for the first time, afraid of my government,” McGee said.

Rachel Talbot Ross of the Portland Chapter of the NAACP said Real ID will force Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles workers to become immigration agents charged with sorting through more than 70 classes of temporary visas and dozens of other immigration statuses.

“Even the best-trained BMV employees will make constant mistakes, and deny licenses or ID cards to people who are rightfully entitled to them,” she said.

Shenna Bellows of the Maine Civil Liberties Union said there will be no paid petition signature gatherers, but she said she’s encouraged by the “unusual alliances that are springing up against Real ID.”

A second people’s veto proposal seeks to repeal new taxes to

help bolster the Dirigo Health program.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – New Hampshire gay rights advocates questioned whether California’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage will help or hurt the future of same-sex partnerships in the Granite State.

One state lawmaker believes the California Supreme Court ruling is the first step toward legalizing same-sex marriage in New Hampshire. But others urge caution. And one former lawmaker fears the decision may mobilize homophobic sentiments that could spread across state lines.

“It’s a historic decision,” said Rep. Mo Baxley, a Democrat from Andover. “I think in the very near future New Hampshire will also have marriage equality.”

“This is a Live-Free-or-Die state,” she added. “People in New Hampshire take it to heart.”

Baxley sponsored a similar bill that would have permitted seame-sex marriage in the state. The state Legislature chose to allow civil unions instead.

“The feeling was that we knew we could pass civil unions, but not the marriage bill,” said Rep. Marlene DeChane, an openly gay Democrat from Barrington, who co-sponsored the same-sex marriage bill with Baxley.

DeChane said she believes civil unions carry less status than marriage and fears it will be difficult, if not impossible, to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.

“The climate in society is acceptable to recognizing gay and lesbian couples, but they’re not ready to accept the full status of marriage,” DeChane said.

More than 300 couples have gotten civil unions in the state since the first of the year when the law took effect, according to William R. Bolton at the state’s Vital Records Administration.

Couples in civil unions have almost the same state rights, responsibilities and obligations as married couples. But the federal government does not recognize the unions.

State gay activist and former Democrat lawmaker Rick Trombley was wary of California’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage.

Trombley fears the decision could inspire backlash, because it came from the court.

In 2000, more than 60 percent of California residents voted to only recognize marriage between a man and a woman.

“I think it’s going to motivate all those people who need the threat that same-sex marriage is going to spread throughout the country as a campaign issue,” Trombley said.

Massachusetts is the only other state – besides California – that allows same-sex marriage.

New Hampshire became the fourth state in the country to adopt civil unions, followed by Vermont, Connecticut and New Jersey.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – People on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate in Vermont say they expect a California Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage in that state will be used as ammunition if, as expected, Vermont lawmakers take up the issue next year.

“There will be an effort in the next legislative session to have a bill that would move marriage forward for all Vermonters,” said Bari Shamas of the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force.

“Vermont’s civil union law does not go far enough and this California decision matters,” Shamas added. “The Legislature will have yet another example of why it is important. Each time the wheels turn in that direction it helps create momentum that says this is really the right thing to do.”

Stephen Cable, an opponent of same-sex marriage and a member of the Vermont Marriage Advisory Council, said, “All eyes are now on Vermont,” he said. “There will be a heightened awareness of same-sex marriage and I expect there will be a bill written on the first day of the legislative session.”

Beth Robinson, a Middlebury lawyer who chairs the Freedom to Marry Task Force, said she, too, believes the California decision will be important to Vermont.

“The significance of this ruling for Vermont cannot be overstated,” Robinson said. “It is certainly meaningful to have this validated by another state’s supreme court.”

The 4-3 California ruling found that California’s domestic partnerships law, similar to the civil unions law passed by Vermont in 2000, does not go far enough to provide equality for same-sex couples.

“The California court recognized that it’s not enough to create a separate legal status like civil unions,” said Robinson.

Same-sex marriage opponents have asked the California court to delay the effective date of its decision until after the election. Normally, such decisions take effect about 30 days after they are issued, meaning if the delay is not granted, same-sex couples in California could plan June weddings.

Rev. Craig Bensen of Cambridge, whose group Take It To The People opposes same-sex marriage, called the California court decision “raw, arrogant, judicial activism in the face of the will of the people.” He predicted it “will be overturned by a citizen’s initiative in a few months which will put an end to same sex marriage in California. The Supreme Court decision does not mean much.”