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A judge in Arkansas ruled the state must recognize the estimated 600 “window” same-sex marriages performed there during a brief period in May of last year.

In a 15-page decision, Pulaski County Judge Wendell Griffen ruled that marriages performed in Arkansas after an earlier ruling in favor of same-sex marriage by a state court should be treated as valid under state law.

“The Court hereby declares that the refusal…to recognize the marriages of plaintiffs and same-sex couples who were married between May 10 and May 16, 2014, as valid, and to accord those marriages with all benefits, rights and privileges extended to heterosexual marriages that were licensed during that time span violates the Plaintiffs’ rights to due process of law and equal protection of the law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and Article 2, [Section] 3 of the Arkansas Constitution’s Declaration of Rights,” Griffen writes.

The lawsuit seeking recognition of the marriages was filed in February by Cheryl Maples, a Searcy-based private attorney, on behalf of two same-sex couples who wed in Arkansas following a ruling by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza against the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

After Piazza issued the ruling, the Arkansas Supreme Court days later issued a stay on the decision pending appeal, halting any more same-sex marriages from taking place in the state.

Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, praised the state judge for the decision, but said the time is now for the U.S. Supreme Court to act and settle the issue nationwide.

“Today Judge Griffen joins more than 65 federal and state courts across America that have found that denying same-sex couples the freedom to marry or equal respect for their marriages violates the U.S. Constitution,” Wolfson said. “But too many other couples are still being denied the freedom to marry and full respect and equality under the law, in Arkansas and other states. It’s time for the Supreme Court to do what courts and the super-majority of Americans have done: affirm the freedom to marry for all, bringing an end to marriage discrimination throughout the land, leaving no family and no state out.”

The state has the option of appealing the decision and seeking a stay from the Arkansas Supreme Court, where the litigation that brought same-sex marriage briefly to Arkansas is being slow-walked.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, a Republican, expressed disappointment in the decision, but said the next steps are yet to be decided.

“These marriages do not fall within the State’s definition of marriage as between one man and one woman,” Rutledge sai. “I am evaluating the ruling and will determine the best path forward to protect the state’s interest.”