Federal Judge Stays Ruling Ordering Ohio to Recognize Homosexual Marriages Pending Appeal

Attorney Al Gerhardstein, left, stands with several same-sex couples at a news conference, Friday, April 4, 2014, in Cincinnati. Civil rights attorneys are arguing in Federal Court on Friday that a federal judge should prohibit Ohio officials from enforcing the state’s ban on gay marriage.

A federal judge has put on hold the majority of what attorneys have called a “momentous” change to Ohio’s gay marriage law.

Judge Timothy Black on Wednesday stayed his ruling ordering Ohio to recognize the marriages of gay couples who wed in other states.

Black made an exception for the four couples who filed the February lawsuit that led to the court case, ordering Ohio to immediately list both spouses in each relationship as parents on their children’s birth certificates.

All other married gay couples in the state will see no immediate tangible expansion of their rights until an appeals court decides to uphold or overturn Black’s ruling.

That likely will take months.

Black says implementing his ruling without knowing the appeal’s outcome could cause confusion and potential inequity.

SOURCE: The Associated Press