May 22, 2009  |  By: Staff & Wire Reports  | COMMENTS     

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A year-old story on the California Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the state’s gay marriage ban got the blogosphere buzzing May 15.

A web version of the Los Angeles Times story on the justices’ May 15, 2008, ruling was misread by some inattentive bloggers, who apparently didn’t notice the exact date of the article. Postings began showing up on the social networking site Twitter and celebrity gossip blog PerezHilton.com, saying the Supreme Court had issued a new decision in the case.

Since last year’s decision, California voters have passed Proposition 8, which makes gay marriage once again illegal. That is being challenged in court and a ruling is expected soon.

Hilton jumped on the buzz, writing a post titled “Gays Can Marry in California!!!!” He later issued an apology, saying that he misread the Times’ old story.

According to a blog on the Times site, a web producer there noticed the Internet traffic and meant to clarify that the story was a year old, but instead sent out an incorrect headline on the Times’ own Twitter feed that further fanned the misinformation.

The Times has since labeled the story as “archive” and posted on Twitter that the story “does not reflect any new news.”