GLBT Americans are celebrating today after a major federal court overturned Proposition 8 – a law that in 2008 removed the right for same-sex couples to marry in California.

In its ruling, the court said: “Proposition 8 served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California”.

Prop 8 supporters tried to have overturn the trial in favour of a fresh one, claiming that Judge Vaughn Walker, who presided over the case, is gay and partnered. The court dismissed these claims.

All parties expect to see the ruling appealed to the US Supreme Court.

Proposition 8 was voted in by Californians on the same day President Barack Obama was elected. Obama has spoken up about his “evolving” view of gay marriage in the past, but now many GLBT advocates are hoping the President can now support the measure.

Richard Socarides, a prominent Democratic political strategist, commentator and gay rights advocate, says the main point in the Prop 8 ruling is that it didn’t state that gay marriage is a right under the US Constitution. If it had made this ruling, Obama could have been expected to agree with it. Instead, the ruling affirmed that voters cannot take away a right to marry that citizens already have by referendum.

“We were hoping for a very broad ruling that held that there was a right under the Constitution to same sex marriage,” Socarides told The Washington Post. “If the court had ruled on those grounds, there would have been more pressure for him to move forward with his evolution on this.

“The decision… is fully consistent with the president’s previously stated position that states should not take away rights by initiative. He can continue to say, ‘my views are evolving but I completely agree that states should not take away rights by initiative’. On this decision, he caught a break. Whether he will be able to continue avoiding the issue is still to be determined.”

Socarides says he doesn’t expect the decision to come before the Supreme Court this year.