• 1975: Gov. Jerry Brown signs legislation repealing criminal penalties for adultery, oral sex and sodomy between consenting adults.

• 1977: Responding to claims that the state’s “gender-neutral” marriage statute left room for gays and lesbians to wed, the California Legislature amends the Family Code to define marriage as “a personal relation arising out of a civil contract between a man and a woman.”

• 1999: The Legislature establishes domestic partner rules giving registered same-sex couples limited rights previously available only to married spouses, including the right to visit each other in the hospital.

• 2000: Proposition 22 further amends the Family Code to state that “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California” after passing with support from 61 percent of voters.

• 2000: Legislature grants more benefits to registered domestic partners, including the right to make medical decisions for a partner, the right to use the stepparent adoption process to adopt a partner’s children and the right to sue for a partner’s wrongful death.

• 2002: Domestic partners given additional rights under state law, including the right to draft wills for each other and to receive copies of each other’s birth and death certificates.

• 2003: Gov. Gray Davis signs legislation granting registered domestic partners nearly all remaining rights and responsibilities available to married spouses under California law. The measure, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2005, requires domestic partners to pay alimony and child support in a divorce.

• Feb. 12, 2004: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom directs city officials to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Couples from all over the country line up for the chance to wed. In Sacramento, Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, introduces legislation to amend the Family Code to define marriage as an institution arising out of a civil contract between “two persons.”

• March 11, 2004: After four weeks of same-sex marriages and more than 4,000 wedding licenses issued, the California Supreme Court halts San Francisco’s same-sex weddings. The city and gay advocacy groups respond by suing to overturn the state’s marriage laws.

• May 19, 2004: Lacking support for his same-sex marriage bill, Leno withdraws it until the next legislative session.

• Aug. 12, 2004: The California Supreme Court voids all gay marriages sanctioned in San Francisco, ruling that the mayor lacked the authority to go against state law. The ruling does not address questions about the constitutionality of the state’s gay marriage ban.

• Dec. 6, 2004: Leno reintroduces his marriage bill, renamed the “Religious Freedom and California Civil Marriage Protection Act,” with backing from Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and nearly 30 co-sponsors.

• Jan. 1, 2005: The 2003 Domestic Partners Rights and Responsibilities Act, a law granting gay couples who register as domestic partners nearly all the benefits and obligations afforded married spouses in California, takes effect.

• March 14, 2005: San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer rules that California’s law limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman is unconstitutional.

• April 4, 2005: A state appeals court rules that California’s domestic partner law doesn’t conflict with a voter-approved initiative defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

• June 29, 2005: The California Supreme Court lets stand a new state law granting registered domestic partners many of the same rights and protections of heterosexual marriage.

• Aug. 10, 2005: The California Supreme Court says it will not immediately decide whether a state ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, leaving the case to a state appeals court.

• Sept. 29, 2005: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoes a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, leaving the issue up to voters or judges.

• May 5, 2006: A federal appeals court sidesteps whether it’s unconstitutional under federal and state law to deny gays and lesbians the right to marry, leaving the issue to state courts to decide.

• Oct. 5, 2006: A state appeals court rules that California’s ban on gay marriage doesn’t violate the constitutional rights of gays and lesbians, overturning Judge Kramer’s ruling.

• Dec. 20, 2006: The California Supreme Court agrees to decide the constitutionality of same-sex marriage ban.

• Oct. 12, 2007: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoes a second bill to legalize same-sex marriage, saying voters and the state Supreme Court should decide the issue.

• March 4, 2008: California Supreme Court hears arguments by same-sex marriage supporters and opponents.

• May 15, 2008: California Supreme Court overturns voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, clearing the way for California to become the second state to allow gays and lesbians to marry.