Arkansas same-sex marriages put on hold pending appeal

Arkansas' highest court halted the distribution of marriage licenses to same-sex couples Friday as it suspended a judge's ruling that had previously struck down the state's gay marriage ban.

The state Supreme Court granted a request to put on hold Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza's decision voiding a 2004 constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Piazza struck down the ban last week, and expanded that ruling Thursday to include all state laws preventing gay couples from marrying.

Pulaski County, the state's largest, had resumed issuing same-sex marriage licenses immediately after Piazza's ruling, while Washington County began issuing them again Friday morning.

More than 450 same-sex couples received Arkansas marriage licenses since Piazza's ruling last week.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and four counties named in the lawsuit had asked the high court to suspend Piazza's decision while it was being appealed, saying it would lead to confusion among Arkansas' 75 counties.

A lawyer for the couples suing over Arkansas' ban said they'd now focus on the appeal before the state Supreme Court and said he was confident the state's prohibition would ultimately be struck.

"The handwriting's on the wall from the United States Supreme Court," attorney Jack Wagoner said. "Unless every court is reading the U.S. Supreme Court wrong, the days of barring same-sex couples from marrying are coming to an end."

McDaniel's office said the order ended the uncertainty for the state's clerks.

"As this office stated in its pleadings, a stay prevents confusion and uncertainty until the Arkansas Supreme Court decides this matter on appeal," said McDaniel spokesman Aaron Sadler. "The court today made the right decision to issue a stay, as other courts across the country have done in similar circumstances."

Seventeen other states allow gay marriage. Judges have struck down bans in Idaho, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Virginia recently.

In Idaho, plans for same-sex marriages to begin Friday were put on hold as the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considered whether the governor and attorney general should have more time to file an appeal to a judge's ruling overturning its state ban.

Hundreds of gay rights activists rallied in Boise on Friday to protest that stay.

Al Jazeera and wire services