Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown joined gay rights advocates Friday in asking a federal judge to allow gays and lesbians in California to marry immediately while opponents appeal the ruling that overturned Proposition 8.

Allowing same-sex couples to wed "is consistent with California's long history of treating all people and their relationships with equal dignity and respect," Schwarzenegger's lawyers said in a written filing with Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker.

Brown, like Schwarzenegger a defendant in the suit that challenged the November 2008 ballot measure, agreed that Walker's ruling Wednesday declaring Prop. 8 unconstitutional removed any legitimate interest the state has in enforcing the ban on same-sex marriage.

And lawyers for gay and lesbian couples said they continue to suffer from Prop. 8's "irrational deprivation of their constitutional rights."

Prop. 8's defenders have already appealed Walker's decision to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco and asked the judge for a stay that would maintain the prohibition on same-sex weddings during the appeal process, which could last a year or more.

By passing Prop. 8 and an earlier ballot measure in 2000, "the people of California have declared clearly and consistently that the public interest lies with preserving the definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman," lawyers for Protect Marriage, the Prop. 8 campaign committee, told Walker in a filing the day before he ruled.

If the ruling takes effect, they said, "same-sex marriages would be licensed under a cloud of uncertainty, and should (Protect Marriage) succeed on appeal, any such marriages would be invalid."

Lawyers for the two couples and a gay rights organization that challenged Prop. 8 replied that the possibility of an unfavorable ruling in the future doesn't justify the continued deprivation of their rights.

"Gay men and lesbians are more than capable of determining whether they, as individuals who now enjoy the freedom to marry, wish to do so immediately or wait until all appeals have run their course," the plaintiffs' lawyers told Walker.

They also asked the judge, if he issues a stay, to limit it to seven days while Prop. 8's sponsors seek a longer suspension from the appeals court. Lawyers for the sponsors also suggested that as an option if they cannot obtain a longer stay.

Walker asked for written arguments on a stay by Friday and has not said when he will rule.

Schwarzenegger raised eyebrows with his strong support for allowing gay and lesbian marriages as soon as possible. The governor remained neutral during the lawsuit and praised Walker's ruling Wednesday, but he has also said he believes marriage should be limited to a man and a woman.

He twice vetoed bills to legalize same-sex marriage, saying they contradicted the will of the people as expressed at the polls.

Jumping into the case now is "just irresponsible," Douglas Napier, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, which took part in Prop. 8's defense, said Friday. "He should have just let the judicial process take its course without sticking his nose into it."

Across the aisle, opponents of the measure said they were surprised - and overjoyed - the governor decided now to speak up.

"He has now weighed and said, 'Enough,' " said Geoff Kors, executive director of the gay rights organization Equality California. "Having the state say there's no reason to keep a stay, and urging the court to lift the stay, is incredibly powerful."

Kors also praised Brown, who refused to defend Prop. 8 in court and has argued that it violated the rights of gays and lesbians to equality under the law.

"Equality California will stand firmly with Brown in his candidacy for governor, just as he has stood with our community and on the side of justice," Kors said.