Former U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker said he never considered his own homosexuality as a reason to step aside and let someone else try the case on Proposition 8.
The judge said it would be inappropriate for any judge's sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin or gender to stop them from presiding over a case.
Meanwhile, a federal appeals court has refused to allow same-sex marriages in California while an appeal of the ban makes its way through the courts.
