A federal appeals court has reiterated its prohibition against gay marriages in California while it considers the constitutionality of a voter-approved ban on same-sex weddings.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by gay and lesbian couples and the city of San Francisco to lift its suspension of a lower-court judge's ruling in August that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional, the San Francisco Chronicle writes.

The state Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages in May 2008, and voters trumped that in November 2008 by passing Prop. 8, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.