Nebraska has been the only state without either same-sex marriage or a federal lawsuit seeking approval of same-sex marriage.

As of Monday, same-sex couples were able to marry in 32 states and the District of Columbia.

Conrad said the legal picture in Nebraska has been complicated by the outcome of a 2001 challenge to the state marriage ban brought by Citizens for Equal Protection, the ACLU and others.

A federal judge overturned the ban but Nebraska officials won an appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the constitutionality of the ban in 2006.

“Thus, we have had to wait for new precedent due to these legal dynamics,” Conrad said. “With the recent decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, we feel confident that now is the right time to refocus on this issue in Nebraska.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the federal government must recognize same-sex marriages that are conducted legally in states.

In the wake of that decision, federal courts overturned bans in several states.