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Kentucky's Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Is Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Says

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Update 2 p.m.: An Appeal

Gov. Steve Beshear plans to appeal a federal judge's opinion on Tuesday that Kentucky's same-sex marriage ban violates the U.S. Constitution.

On the other side, plaintiffs' attorney Dan Canon said he's pleased with the judge's order—even if, unlike other states, an immediate stay was issued preventing same-sex couples from immediately being allowed to marry.

"We’re optimistic that same-sex couples will in the very near future be able to get marriage licenses in Kentucky," Canon told WFPL on Tuesday afternoon.

Related: WFPL's past coverage of same-sex marriage challenges in Kentucky and Indiana.

Canon said Senior U.S. District Judge John Heyburn's order on Tuesday and the February order on out-of-state same-sex marriages were "forceful." Canon pointed to this line in Heyburn's order, directed at part of the argument in the state's recent appealof the out-of-state same-sex marriage case:

The state’s attempts to connect the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage to its interest in economic stability and in “ensuring humanity’s continued existence” are at best illogical and even bewildering.

“I think that the overall effect of both Kentucky opinions is that it lays to rest any notion that there’s any sort of rational basis for the legislative scheme that the Commonwealth of Kentucky has come up with to keep same-sex couples from getting married," Canon said.

The firmhired by the statefollowing Attorney General Jack Conway's decision to not pursue an appealreferred questions to Gov. Steve Beshear's office.

In a statement, Beshear said the state will appeal "so that the matter is fully before the Sixth Circuit, where these same issues from other states are already scheduled to be decided by the Sixth Circuit.”

Canon said he doesn't expect this case to be consolidated with the other same-sex marriage cases before the appeals court, because those cases have been briefed and areset to have oral arguments in August.

In a news conference live-streamed by The Courier-Journal, one of the plaintiffs, Timothy Love, said he's confident the final outcome of the court proceedings will allow for same-sex marriage in Kentucky.

Love, a Louisville resident, sought in February a marriage license with his longtime partner,LawrenceYsunza. They were denied.

“I was hoping whenever this ruling came down that we would see lines at the courthouse, couples getting married just like what happened in Indiana," Love said. 

"But we understand that this is part of the legal process.” 

Related: Same-Sex Couples Get Married in Jeffersonville

A stay was issued Friday in Indiana, ending a brief period wheresame-sex couples were married in some counties.

Earlier: Kentucky's laws banning same-sex couples from being married in the state are unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

Senior U.S. District Judge John Heyburn's order strikes down Kentucky's same-sex marriage ban, but he also issued a stay pending an order from a federal appeals court. So Kentucky same-sex couples will have no period where they'll be able to be married in the state, as happened last week in Indiana.

The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 6 will hear oral arguments in an appeal of another of Heyburn's orders—that the state mustrecognize out-of-state same-sex marriages.

Like the previous out-of-state same-sex marriage case, Heyburn said Kentucky's same-sex marriage ban violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment.

We'll update with reaction later today.

Here's the order:

Copyright 2014 89.3 WFPL News Louisville

Joseph Lord is a Louisville native who was raised in Jeffersontown. He attended Western Kentucky University before covering public safety and later city government for The Anniston (Ala.) Star. He's also covered education for The Tribune and Evening News in southern Indiana and music and pop culture for Velocity, The Courier-Journal's weekly entertainment magazine.