The Supreme Court will decide whether or not they will hear the appeal to upholding of the ban on gay marriage.
On Monday, Miami-Dade County allowed same-sex marriage half a day before the ban was lifted; it became the first county in Florida to allow same-sex unions.
The Miami Herald reports that same-sex marriages took place less than three hours after Judge Sarah Zabel nullified the ban on same-sex marriage for Miami-Dade County.
“In the big picture, does it really matter whether or not I lift the stay or leave it until tomorrow,” stated Judge Zabel.
Zabel married several couples on Monday after she lifted the ban. Most of Florida will begin same-sex marriages on Tuesday.
On Sunday, Jeb Bush commented on Florida’s recent decision to overturn the ban on gay marriage.
“It ought be a local decision. I mean, a state decision,” Jeb Bush told the Miami Herald in reference to the ban. “The state decided. The people of the state decided. But it’s been overturned by the courts, I guess,” he said.
Florida’s previous ban on gay marriage was put into effect in 2008, when 61.9% of voters voted in favor of the ban.
In Ohio, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request to overturn a ban on gay marriage back in November. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decided to keep the bans in place after the court ruled 2-1 in favor of the bans. The decision affects the states of Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, and Tennessee.
The Supreme Court is expected to begin talks about whether or not they will hear the cases regarding the attempts to overturn the ban. In the event that the Supreme Court takes the cases, they will decide the legality of same-sex unions in the four states before the summer.
Currently 35 states, as well as the District of Columbia, allow same-sex unions. The 6th Circuit’s decision was surprising because of the past year’s trend of same-sex marriage bans being overturned. If the Supreme Court decides not to hear the challenges to the bans, then the bans will stay in place in the four states.
