The May 15 ruling took effect at 5:01 p.m. Monday. Gay and lesbian couples had lined up for hours outside county clerks' offices in anticipation of the decision coming into force.
Clerks expect a much larger number of couples to show up Tuesday morning to complete marriage-license applications that replace "Bride" and "Groom" with "Partner A" and "Partner B."
The decision makes California the nation's second U.S. state, after Massachusetts, to legalize same-sex marriage. Four other states allow civil unions. iReport.com: Share your feelings, photos and videos
As the Contra Costa County clerk in northern California, Stephen Weir has signed off on hundreds of marriages and officiated over several ceremonies.
Now Weir can get a marriage license of his own.
Weir and his partner, John Hemm, planned to be the first in their county to marry under a California Supreme Court ruling that allows same-sex marriage.
"I promised myself and my partner and the community that when this was legal I'd be first in line," Weir said.
Weir, 59, and Hemm, 53, have been together 18 years. They have long wanted to get married, Hemm said, but he "didn't think it would ever happen."
George Takei -- who portrayed Mr. Sulu in the "Star Trek" television and film series -- and his partner of 21 years, Brad Altman, also planned to be among the first in line to wed Monday evening.
"We're excited, we're nervous and we're overjoyed," Takei said.
"The march of equality that needs to include everybody equally and fairly is here -- at least in California," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. "But that I recognize that it's not existent in 48 other states means that we have a lot of work to do."
Critics of the ruling have talked about staging protests against same-sex marriages this week.
Opponents say they've collected enough signatures to call for a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and woman. The California secretary of state must verify the signatures before a November vote can be held on the proposed amendment.
Though the law affects only California, it has national implications. "Because we're in a presidential campaign right now, it's going to be a real flash point for the electorate to come together and say this really matters to us," said Charmaine Yoest of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group based in Washington that opposes gay marriage.
Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California, issued a statement on behalf of seven bishops Monday, saying the Catholic Church "cannot approve of redefining marriage."
Marriage "has a unique place in God's creation, joining a man and a woman in a committed relationship in order to nurture and support the new life for which marriage is intended," the statement said. "The meaning of marriage is deeply rooted in history and culture, and has been shaped considerably by Christian tradition. Its meaning is given, not constructed."
Newsom said the issue "is about civil marriages, not about religious marriages. ... We're not telling religious institutions what to do. They can continue to do what they've done."
The high-profile mayor heated up the debate on same-sex marriages in February 2004, when he ordered city officials to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
The California Supreme Court later ruled Newsom had overstepped his authority and declared about 4,000 licenses invalid. But at the time, the court sidestepped the issue of whether banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, allowing legal cases arguing that issue to work their way through the lower courts.
Several gay and lesbian couples -- along with the city of San Francisco and gay-rights groups -- sued, saying they were victims of unlawful discrimination. A lower court ruled San Francisco had acted unlawfully in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
In the May 15 ruling, the California Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. The ruling surprised legal experts because the court has a conservative reputation. Six of its seven judges are Republican appointees.
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