Updated 12:45 p.m. CDT
A federal appeals court has lifted its stay in gay marriage cases in Oklahoma and Utah, clearing the way for same-sex nuptials to begin in both states.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver lifted the stays Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the matter. The high court's decision effectively means gay marriage is legal in 30 states.
In the Oklahoma case, a gay couple sued a county clerk for failing to issue them a marriage license shortly after voters in Oklahoma approved a ban on same-sex marriage in 2004. In Utah, three same-sex couples sued to challenge the state's 2004 voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. A federal judge overturned the ban last December.
The Oklahoma couple plans to wed Monday in Tulsa.
The Supreme Court justices on Monday did not comment in rejecting appeals from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The court's order immediately ends delays on marriage in those states. Couples in six other states should be able to get married in short order.
That would make same-sex marriage legal in 30 states and the District of Columbia.
But the justices have left unresolved for now the question of same-sex marriage nationwide.
The clerk in Oklahoma's largest county says his office won't immediately begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in the case.
Oklahoma County Court Clerk Tim Rhodes says his office wouldn't issue licenses until a stay is lifted by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Earlier this year, the federal appeals court sided with a Tulsa couple challenging the same-sex marriage ban, but the panel put its ruling on hold as the case moves through the courts.
Rhodes says that stay must be lifted before he can begin issuing licenses to same-sex couples.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday did not comment in rejecting appeals from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.
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