Andrew Wolfson

The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge extended the stay Wednesday on his ruling that allows Kentucky recognition of gay marriages.

U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II issued the stay because Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear is appealing his Feb. 12 ruling but said Wednesday said the stay will remain in effect until the U.S. 6th Circuit of Appeals in Cincinnati dissolves it.

Beshear's lawyers had sought the extension of the stay, which was to expire Thursday.

They argued that it would have wreaked havoc if the state were forced to recognize gay marriages while the issue was on appeal. The four gay and lesbian couples who won the case before Heyburn had opposed the extension.

Heyburn ruled in February that the portion of Kentucky's constitutional amendment banning the recognition of gay marriages from other states violated the guarantee of equal protection under the law in the U.S. Constitution.

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, whose office had been defending the ban, said he wouldn't appeal because he thought the state constitutional amendment was unconstitutional.

Beshear's office last week hired an Ashland, Ky., law firm to handle the appeal.