Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Southern California has thousands of believers in Santeria, a fusion of Catholicism and
Yoruba beliefs practiced by West African slaves in the Caribbean and South America.
Drop by a
botànica
(herbal folk medicine shop) for charms and candles.
CALIFORNIA'S BATTLES OVER MARRIAGE EQUALITY
In 2004, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issued marriage licenses to same-sex
couples in defiance of a statewide ban, and 4000 same-sex couples promptly got
hitched. Four years later, the same-sex marriage ban was nixed by California courts, but
then Proposition 8 was narrowly passed by voters to amend the state's constitution to
limit marriage to between one man and one woman.
Civil-rights activists challenged the constitutionality of Proposition 8 as discriminatory.
The case eventually wound its way to the US Supreme Court, which decided in 2013 to
uphold a lower court's ruling that Prop 8 was unconstitutional. Same-sex marriages
quickly resumed in California, one of a growing number of US states to legalize marriage
equality for all.
Population & Multiculturalism
With more than 38 million residents, California is the most populous US state: one in
every nine Americans lives here. It's also one of the fastest growing states, with three of
America's 10 biggest cities (Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose) and over 300,000 new-
comers every year. You still don't believe it's crowded here? California's population dens-
ity is 239 people per sq mile - almost triple the national average.
If you were the average Californian, you'd be statistically likely to be Latina, aged
about 35, living in densely populated LA, Orange or San Diego Counties, and you'd speak
more than one language. There's a one in four chance you were born outside the US, and if
you were born in the US the odds are 50/50 you moved here recently from another state.
One of every four immigrants to the US lands in California, with the largest segment
coming from Mexico, followed by Central America. Most legal immigrants to California
are sponsored by family members who already live here. In addition, nearly three million
undocumented immigrants are estimated to currently live in California. But this is not a
radical new development: before California became a US state in 1850 it was a territory of
