The ban was challenged in 2004 in lawsuits by two Tulsa-area lesbian couples, the day after Oklahoma voters approved adding it as an amendment to the state Constitution. The ban passed by a 76 percent landslide.

Plaintiffs Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin sued for the right to be married in Oklahoma, while Susan Barton and Gay Phillips were suing to have their legal California marriage recognized in Oklahoma. Bishop is a Tulsa World editor; Baldwin is a former editor at the newspaper.

“Our goal from the beginning has been to establish marriage equality across this land, and today’s development is one more step along the road to getting there,” Bishop said during a news conference Friday afternoon at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center.

“When we filed this case 10 years ago, we knew that we didn’t just want Oklahoma to have same-sex marriage equality,” Bishop added.

“We wanted this for our whole country because we are all Americans and we believe that as Americans we should all have the same rights no matter where we live.”

Bishop was flanked by her partner and the other plaintiff couple, who all spoke about what the ruling means and what is left to accomplish.