SAN FRANCISCO (RNN) - The cultural war over the definition of marriage reached another milestone Tuesday, as a federal court of appeals ruled California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found Proposition 8, the voter initiative which defined marriage in California as a union between a man and a woman in 2008, to be in violation of the 14th Amendment. "Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples," the ruling said. "The Constitution simply does not allow for 'laws of this sort.'"