A Kentucky judge on Thursday struck
down the state's ban on gay marriage.
Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas
Wingate sided with two Lexington couples who were denied marriage
licenses in 2013, saying that the ban violates the Equal Protection
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
According to the
AP, Wingate stayed his order until the Supreme Court rules on a
similar federal challenge to Kentucky's ban and those in three other
states.
Justices will hear oral arguments in a
case challenging bans in four states – Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and
Tennessee – on April 28, with a ruling expected in June. Federal
judges struck down the bans, but an appeals court overturned those
decisions. Plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Kentucky couples were denied
licenses in Fayette County, the state's second-most populous county.