JACKSON, Miss.–Even though same-sex couples have been getting married in Mississippi all week, the last official legal block has now been removed by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The stay on gay marriage was officially lifted Wednesday.
Attorney Ge. Jim Hood released a statement Wednesday afternoon:
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has this afternoon lifted the stay of the preliminary injunction. Mississippi’s laws prohibiting same sex marriage are now officially declared unconstitutional and unenforceable by the Federal Court. This ruling makes clear that marriage licenses should be issued to same sex couples.
Gov. Bryant earlier this week expressed his feelings on the Supreme Court ruling that declared Mississippi’s ban unconstitutional, saying he believed it was an overreach.
“For those of us who are conservatives, last week was a tough week,” he said at Tuesday’s political rally in Jones County.
“We saw an unparalleled grasp of state power by the Supreme Court. Nine lawyers in robes decided by one vote of that court that as we know traditional marriage in America will never be the same. As we had authority in each state to regulate marriage, as we should, all of that changed. By one vote, one judge.”
