Bonnie Robinson, left, and her partner, Anne Guzzo, give a thumbs-up to a passing motorist while speaking with Carl Oleson and his partner, Rob Johnston, right, before a hearing on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, at the Ewing T. Kerr Federal Building in Casper, Wyo.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has declared that Wyoming cannot deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl put his ruling on hold until Oct. 23 to provide time for government officials to attempt an appeal if they wish. The ruling could go into effect sooner if government officials inform the court that they do not plan to appeal the decision.

Skavdahl was nominated to the bench by President Obama in 2011. The ruling parted ways from many others in recent months because he made it clear that he would not have reached an independent ruling striking down the Wyoming ban on same-sex couples' marriages if it were not for the fact that the appeals court to which his cases are appealed had not already struck down other states' bans.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, over the summer, struck down Utah and Idaho's bans on same-sex couples' marriages. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court denied both states' requests for the high court to hear its appeal of the ruling — letting the rulings stand and making those rulings the law that all lower courts within the circuit must follow.

"It is not the desire or preference of this Court to, with the stroke of a pen, erase a State's legislative enactments," Skavdahl wrote. "Nonetheless, the binding precedent of [the 10th Circuit cases striking down other bans] mandate this result, and this Court will adhere to its Constitutional duties and abide by the rule of law."