The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for South Carolina to become the 35th U.S. state where gay marriage is legal, denying a request to block same-same weddings from proceeding.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, a Republican, said in a statement his office would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the district court's ruling, according to the Associated Press.
"This issue has not yet been resolved nationally," he said in a statement.
"Today's ruling by the Fourth Circuit does not end the constitutional obligation of this Office to defend South Carolina law," Wilson told the AP.
The order was another victory for gay marriage advocates after a federal judge in Montana on Wednesday struck down that state's ban on same-sex marriage.
"We're really thrilled," said Jeff Ayers, board chairman of South Carolina Equality. "This proves that all the way to the highest court, these were our rights from the beginning".
Gay marriage advocates in Louisiana said on Thursday they had joined those asking the high court to rule on the issue.
There are already cases involving bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee pending at the court, which will likely decide by the end of the year whether to hear one or more of them.
Although gay marriage advocates have had the advantage in the courts over the past year, a Cincinnati-based federal appeals court on Nov. 6 became the first to uphold gay marriage bans.
That decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backing four states' bans created a split within the courts, increasing the chances the Supreme Court will rule once and for all on whether states can ban gay marriage.
In Montana, where U.S. District Judge Brian Morris overturned that state's ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, dozens of couples married at county courthouses on Thursday.
A lesbian couple who successfully challenged the prohibition were the first to receive a marriage license at the Cascade County Courthouse in Great Falls, said Amy Cannata of the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana.
