No Marriage Licenses
In Los Angeles County they have stopped issuing same-sex marriage licenses after the passage of a ballot measure to eliminate the right of gay couples to marry, the agency said Wednesday.
Three groups have petitioned the California Supreme Court challenging the passage, and thousands of protesters took to the streets Wednesday to vent their disappointment.
California's Proposition 8 passed by 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent in Tuesday's general election.
"This is a great day for marriage," Ron Prentice, chairman of ProtectMarriage.com, said in a statement. "The people of California stood up for traditional marriage and reclaimed this great institution."
The amendment to the state constitution overrides a state Supreme Court ruling in May that legalized same-sex marriage. iReport.com: Did you vote in favor of Proposition 8?
The decision to suspend the marriage licenses was based on the secretary of state's semi-official canvass results from Election Night and a provision in the state's constitution that says a proposed amendment "shall be submitted to the electors and if approved by a majority of votes thereon takes effect the day after the election," Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan said in a news release.
The agency said it would act accordingly if it is directed to reverse course or take further action in the future.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights are asking the state's high court for an immediate stay or an injunction to prevent the initiative from taking effect.
The groups argued in papers filed with the high court that the ballot initiative process "was improperly used in an attempt to undo the constitution's core commitment to equality for everyone."
The measure did that "by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group -- lesbian and gay Californians," the groups said in a written statement.
The demonstrators rallied peacefully in West Hollywood, holding placards and waving gay pride flags. Elsewhere, hundreds of protesters staged a half-hour sit-in outside CNN's Los Angeles bureau on Sunset Boulevard. The demonstrators chanted slogans and banged on the building's glass doors but then dispersed without incident.
Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres said she is "saddened beyond belief" over the proposed amendment. iReport.com: Historic day was 'bittersweet'
DeGeneres, who wed actress Portia de Rossi in August, said in a statement Wednesday to The Associated Press that she, "like millions of Americans, felt like we had taken a giant step toward equality" by electing Barack Obama as president.
DeGeneres says that with the passage of California's Proposition 8, "we took a giant step away."
The measure was one of three stunning blows to supporters of same-sex unions in Tuesday's election. Voters in Arizona and Florida also approved constitutional amendments recognizing marriage only as a union between one man and one woman.
In Arizona, where a similar measure failed in 2006, Proposition 102 passed with 56 percent of the vote. Florida voters approved that state's amendment, 62 percent to 38 percent. 
Watch where ballot initiatives succeeded and failed »
Arizona, California and Florida were the only states to weigh constitutional amendments banning same-sex unions this year, down from 11 states in the 2004 election.
But voters faced other hot-button social issues Tuesday, from abortion and affirmative action to suicide and animal rights.
As of Wednesday, CNN had projected results on most major initiatives, based on actual results and exit poll data from key areas.
Fifty-seven percent of voters in Arkansas supported a measure to prohibit unmarried sexual partners from adopting children or from serving as foster parents. The measure specifies that the prohibition applies to opposite-sex as well as same-sex couples.
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