US: Couples ask Arkansas court not to delay same-sex marriages from taking place

Gay and lesbian couples in the US state of Arkansas have asked for the state Supreme Court not to delay same-sex couples from marrying until the US Supreme Court rules on proceedings.

A county judge in May threw out the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, and over 500 couples received licences before an emergency stay was issued by the state’s high court.

The state of Arkansas has already asked for the state to block proceedings until the federal court rules.

In a court filing made on Friday, attorneys representing the couples who filed the lawsuit said there was no proof that harm would be done by a stay being lifted.

Earlier this month, Arkansas’s Attorney General Dustin McDaniel launched a bid to maintain the state’s constitutional marriage ban, despite claiming to support same-sex marriage.

Attorneys in the same-sex marriage lawsuits asked a federal judge to grant summary judgement on the case in July.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently said that she expects her court to rule on the issue of same-sex marriage by 2016 at latest.

• Nov 29 2023

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