A US judge who overturned California’s same-sex marriage ban has ruled that gay weddings can resume there as early as next week.

Opponents now have until August 18 to appeal the decision.

Eighteen thousand same-sex couples, legally wed in California since the legal wrangle began, felt free to celebrate claiming their unions can not now be called into question.

Californians voted for the ban by 52 per cent to 48 per cent in a referendum in 2008 but Judge Vaughn Walker last week overturned Proposition 8, declaring that it unconstitutionally discriminated against same-sex couples who sought to get married.

Judge Walker’s latest decision to let same-sex marriages go-ahead from August 18 followed a call by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for gay weddings to be made legal.

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