More U.S. states push for gay marriages in wake of high court decision

(Reuters) - Legal pressure mounted across the United States on Tuesday for further expansion of marriage rights after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to uphold gay marriage bans in five states but left intact 20 others.

The response in the five directly affected states has been immediate. On Tuesday morning, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago issued orders that put into effect its earlier ruling that struck down bans in Wisconsin and Indiana. Gay marriages have already gone ahead in Virginia, Utah and Oklahoma.

Colorado’s attorney general also told county clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples after the state Supreme Court lifted stays it had imposed in two related cases.

Marriage equality advocates in Florida filed a motion asking a federal judge on Tuesday to lift a stay and allow same-sex unions to go ahead. Legal challenges were also being planned in North and South Carolina and West Virginia.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to rule on whether states can ban gay marriage, but rejected appeals to uphold the ban in the five states.

As a result, the high court left intact lower-court rulings striking down those bans, raising the number of states permitting gay marriage from 19 to 24.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed an order on Tuesday directing all state authorities to make the necessary policy changes to comply with the Supreme Court decision.

Five more states could soon be added under regional federal appeals court rulings that had struck down other bans in North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Kansas.

Three same-sex couples in South Carolina say they plan to apply for marriage licenses on Wednesday and if denied will file lawsuits against the state.

"I want my state to acknowledge my fundamental right to get married," said Colleen Condon, 44, a Charleston attorney and city council member, one of those planning to seek a license on Wednesday.

She has alerted the probate judge who handles marriage licenses, who is her cousin, she said.

South Carolina Equality plans to rally at the statehouse on Wednesday and march to Attorney General Alan Wilson's office, where they will present a petition demanding that the state stop defending its constitutional ban on gay marriage.

"We believe that the citizens of South Carolina should not be forced to wait while time and taxpayer funds are wasted," the group said.

But state officials stood their ground. "Until the courts rule on the matter, South Carolina will seek to uphold our state constitution,” Wilson said on Tuesday in a statement.

Circuit Court of Appeals decisions that will affect nine other states are imminent. Separately, appeals in cases in which district court judges struck down bans in Texas, Louisiana and Florida are also pending.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed a motion on Tuesday asking U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle to lift a stay he imposed in August on his own ruling that struck down Florida's gay marriage ban. In his ruling Hinkle cited pending cases in other states before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hinkle was the fifth judge in the state to rule against a same-sex marriage ban approved by voters in 2008, but the first federal judge to do so.

Howard Simon, the executive director of the ACLU of Florida, urged state Attorney General Pam Bondi to take heed of the high court decision.

"Any further attempt to prevent historical and legal change is fruitless," he said.

Bondi's office said on Tuesday it was "reviewing the impact" of the latest court decisions."