(San Francisco, California) San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his wife, actress Jennifer Siebel Newsom, are expecting their first child.

Newsom, who is in his second term as mayor, has been raising money and traveling the state in anticipation of running next year to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as California’s governor.

Newsom gained national attention in 2004 when he began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Some 8,000 couples exchanged vows before the state Supreme Court ruled Newsom had acted illegally.

The court nullified the marriages but said its ruling dealt only with Newsom’s actions.  The justices said at the time the question of whether barring same-sex couples from marrying violated the state’s equal protection clause of its constitution was a separate matter.

Legal challenges on the constitutional question were begun almost immediately. Three separate suits ultimately were wrapped together into a single case.

In March 2005, a Superior Court judge in San Francisco ruled that the law denying same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The ruling was upheld by the California Supreme Court in May 2008 and same-sex couples began exchanging vows again.

Opponents of gay marriage immediately began gathering signatures for a ballot measure to ban gay marriage. Last November the measure, known as Proposition 8, passed with a slim majority.

By that time, some 18,000 same-sex marriages had taken place.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the vote.  They were joined by additional suits by the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case on March 5.