A former actor named Ronald Reagan, who had opposed the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, was a campaign spokesman.

"If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house," Reagan declared, "he has a right to do so."

Two years after Proposition 14 passed, the state Supreme Court struck it down, saying it violated the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court later upheld the decision.

Proposition 8 ended same-sex marriage in California last November. Brown is contending that the measure violates the California Constitution's "inalienable" rights to liberty and privacy that cannot be eliminated without compelling reasons.

He maintains those rights include the right to marry, which same-sex couples had for five months last year. That window opened after the state Supreme Court decided in May to invalidate Proposition 22 of 2000, which had banned same-sex marriage, and it closed when voters passed Proposition 8.