Paul Park jokes that, after hearing the landmark ruling by the California Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage, he and his partner Dean Larkin warned their lesbian daughter, “We’re not paying for a second wedding!”

Their daughter, who is Larkin’s biological child from a previous marriage, and her partner held a symbolic wedding ceremony last year.

On a more serious note, Park called last month’s ruling “extra sweet” because it essentially gave two couples in his family legal recognition. He and Larkin have been domestic partners for six years.

“We’ve just been waiting for the law to catch up to where we’re at,” said Park, a second-generation Korean American who works as a business development executive in the software industry in Los Angeles. “We’ll definitely have a wedding, not sure about how many bells.”

Supporters of same-sex marriage embraced the historic May 15 ruling, which, according to legal scholars, went further than any other state high court in extending rights and protections to gays and lesbians. In fact, the court, in a 4-3 ruling led by Republican Chief Justice Ronald M. George, seemed to equate California’s ban on same-sex marriage with anti-miscegenation laws of the past — an argument advanced by the Asian Pacific American groups that filed an amicus brief with the court in support of gay marriage.

“We have a court that did the right thing and did it in a tremendous way,” said Karin Wang, vice president of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, which has been active in the same-sex marriage fight. “We’re witnessing history. It’s like the groundswell that led to the civil rights movement and the dismantling of laws considered racist. The marriage decision will go a long way toward making [same-sex] couples just like any other family.”

California joins Massachusetts, the only other state in the country where same-sex marriage is legal.

But even as couples are planning their nuptials, a movement is underway to get a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage on the California ballot in November. If passed, such an amendment would nullify the high court’s ruling.

Still, Park remains optimistic that the people of California will see gay marriage as a civil rights issue. “We’re as boring as any married couple out there,” said the 34-year-old. “There’s no reason we need to feel segregated or pulled outside of the norm.”