State Appeals Same Sex Marriage Ruling

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi’s attorney general has filed a formal notice of appeal of federal judge’s ruling that overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

The notice was filed late Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Mississippi, by Attorney General Jim Hood and Gov. Phil Bryant. The appeal goes to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves threw out the prohibition but put his order on hold for two weeks so the state could appeal.

Mississippi has a 1997 law that bans same-sex marriage and a 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Two lesbian couples and a gay-rights group, Campaign for Southern Equality, sued Oct. 20 to overturn the ban.