Missouri on Friday appealed a federal
judge's ruling striking down the state's ban on gay marriage.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Ortrie
D. Smith declared the state's ban unconstitutional but stayed his
ruling pending an appeal.
Attorney General Chris Koster asked
the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse Smith's decision.
Plaintiffs in the case are two gay
couples, Angela Curtis and Shannon McGinty and Kyle Lawson and Evan
Dahlgren, who wish to marry in Missouri but were denied a marriage
licenses in June.
Smith handed down his ruling two days
after a state judge knocked down Missouri's ban, allowing gay
couples to begin marrying in St. Louis, and a month after a judge
in a separate case ordered officials to recognize the out-of-state
marriages of gay couples.
Koster, a Democrat, decided against
pursuing an appeal in the recognition case.
Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey
and House Speaker Tim Jones, both Republicans, have asked to
intervene in the case so that they can appeal it to the state Supreme
Court.