Weddings, court rulings and confusion are defining a week that started with the U.S. Supreme Court denying appeals from five states seeking to retain their bans on same-sex marriage.
Here is a look at legal movement towards same-sex marriage in other states.
Alaska
A federal judge heard arguments Friday on the first gay marriage ban passed in the U.S., but he did not issue a ruling. The state said the question of whether to define marriage to include gay couples should be decided by citizens, not the courts. Voters approved the ban in 1998.
Arizona
A federal judge has said a 9th Circuit ruling apparently “controls the outcome” of Arizona’s gay marriage ban. The state is covered by the appellate court that struck down bans in Idaho and Nevada. Marriages have not begun in Arizona.
Arkansas
The state Supreme Court refused to delay a challenge to Arkansas’ gay marriage ban, rejecting the state attorney general who had asked the court to put the case on hold.
Indiana
The University of Notre Dame told employees its granting health care and other benefits to same-sex spouses after the Supreme Court’s ruling. The Catholic university’s move came Wednesday, a day after the state attorney general said marriage licenses must be issued to gay couples.
Kansas
The state’s most populous county issued a marriage license Friday to a same-sex couple, believed to be the first in the state. But nearly all of the state’s other counties have refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
South Carolina
The state Supreme Court ordered lower state courts to refrain from issuing same-sex marriage licenses until a federal judge decides whether the state constitution’s ban on the unions is legal.
West Virginia
Gay couples have begun receiving marriage licenses after the state’s attorney general dropped his fight opposing same-sex unions.
