A judge ordered Arkansas on Tuesday to recognize hundreds of same-sex marriages that were performed in the state in May 2014, local TV broadcaster KARK reported.



The ruling from Pulaski County judge Wendell Griffen applies to about 500 couples who received marriage licenses during a brief window when clerks issued them to same-sex couples in places such as Pulaski County, the state’s most populous area and home to capital Little Rock.

The attorney general petitioned to halt the issuance of the licenses and the state supreme court agreed, issuing a brief, unsigned order, without elaborating on its reasoning.

At the time, Arkansas became the first state in the south to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.