The state’s defense of the ban has so far avoided the moral debate over gay marriage, instead asserting that the suit should be dismissed because the right of individuals to marry within their gender has not been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court or any court within the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, which covers Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. The state did not, for instance, argue that it has an interest in denying same-sex couples the right to marry, as many social conservatives have in the past.