Much like the legislation that passed the Washington D.C. city council by an overwhelming majority, the state of California is considering legislation, Senate Bill 54, that would recognize same-sex marriages committed in other states.

A handful of people have argued that the bill would go against the state Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, but the bill’s author has been able to prove that the language of the court decision allows for this kind of bill to pass.

From the Sacramento Bee:

The court’s decision upheld the right of voters to bar gay couples from the label “marriage,” acknowledged SB 54’s author, Senator Mark Leno, an openly gay Democrat from San Francisco.

But the court, Leno noted, also upheld an estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in California before the gay-marriage ban was approved. Those marriages took place after the justices ruled in May 2008, in a separate decision, California’s constitution at that time did not prevent same-sex marriage.

The high court did not address how to treat out-of-state marriages, explaining in a footnote that none of the parties involved in lawsuits represented such interests.

In that vacuum, Leno is arguing the Legistaure’s role should be to clarify the rights of same-sex couples who live in California but wed elsewhere, or couples who might move or travel here in the future.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Victoriabernal.