They’ve been committed to each other for eight years and have four sons together, but there’s a component missing in one Berkeley, California, couple’s life that’s out of reach for them: getting married.

Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier’s partnership is one that has taken center stage because of the ongoing debate on same-sex marriage in California.

On Monday, the spotlight will be even brighter, when a trial challenging California’s Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage, begins in U. S. District Court in San Francisco. Demonstrators are expected to be out in force. There also may be a camera in the courtroom if the ballot initiative’s sponsors fail in their 11th hour bid to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to keep it out.

Perry and Stier, along with Jeffrey Zarrillo and Paul Katami, of Los Angeles, are the two couples at the heart of the case, arguing that California’s ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. They are asking Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker to issue an injunction against Proposition 8′s enforcement.

Read the rest of Mallory Simon and Dan Simon’s CNN article here.