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After months of anticipation, a federal judge today will release his decision in the closely watched court challenge to California’s same-sex marriage ban. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker will decide whether Proposition 8, a voter-approved measure defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, violates the U.S. Constitution.

The Bay Citizen will post Walker’s ruling immediately after it is released—which will happen between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., according to an announcement from the court.

Prop. 8 defenders filed a motion late Tuesday asking the judge to block same-sex marriages, pending an appeal, if he strikes down the measure.

“A stay is essential to averting the harms that would flow from another purported window of same-sex marriage in California,” the Prop. 8 defense attorneys wrote in the motion.

Both sides have promised to appeal, and the case is considered likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

When the decision is issued, the legal opponents of Prop. 8 will hold a press conference at The Bentley Reserve building at 301 Battery St. in San Francisco. Supporters of gay marriage will also gather at 5 p.m. at Harvey Milk Plaza at 18th and Castro streets in San Francisco and march to City Hall.

A spokesperson for defenders of the law said that after the decision, their legal team will post a statement on the website protectmarriage.com.

The issue of gay marriage has been debated in California's Legislature, courts and voting booths for more than a decade. Prop. 8 was the second state ballot initiative to prohibit gay marriage. The first, Proposition 22, was approved in 2000, only to be overturned by the state Supreme Court in 2008. In the months following that decision, 18,000 gay and lesbian couples were wed, but soon after, 52 percent of California voters passed Prop. 8, amending the state constitution and halting same-sex nuptials.

The case that Walker will decide Wednesday began in 2009, when two couples who couldn’t marry because of Prop. 8 filed a federal lawsuit. During a no-jury trial in January, experts testified on the meaning of marriage. Afterwards, the judge reviewed evidence for several months before hearing closing arguments on June 16.

Prop. 8 defense attorney Charles Cooper argued that marriage was a procreative union that encouraged heterosexual families to raise children together. Allowing gay couples to marry, he said, could have unknowable effects, which California voters sought to prevent by passing Prop. 8.

Prop. 8 opposing attorney Theodore B. Olsen argued that preventing gay and lesbian couples from marrying harmed them and their families and violated their rights. He said the law was discriminatory, and its defenders hadn’t proved how it would hurt the institution of marriage.

The ruling will be made public on the U.S. District Court of Northern California’s website, and hard copies will also be available at federal courthouses in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.

The Bay Citizen will be reporting live on this landmark decision Wednesday from press conferences and public events. The complete coverage can be found at our Prop. 8 topic page, which features a timeline of important events related to gay marriage, opinions from Bay Area residents and more about Judge Vaughn Walker.