An appeals court ruled that gay marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana violate the United States Constitution, according to The Associated Press.
The three judge panel of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in favor of same-sex couples just over a week after hearing oral arguments in the two different cases, the AP reported.
The Wisconsin and Indiana cases shifted to Chicago after attorneys general in the states appealed separate lower court rulings in June that tossed the bans, according to the AP.
The 7th Circuit stayed those rulings pending its own decision on the cases, which were considered simultaneously, the AP reported.
The unanimous decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago criticized the justifications both states gave for the bans, several times singling out the argument that marriage between a man and a woman is tradition, according to the AP.
"Bad traditions that are historical realities such as cannibalism, foot-binding, and suttee, and traditions that from a public-policy standpoint are neither good nor bad - such as trick-or-treating on Halloween," it said, the AP reported. "Tradition per se therefore cannot be a lawful ground for discrimination-regardless of the age of the tradition."
Same-sex marriage is legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia. Bans that have been overturned in some other states continue to make their way through the courts, according to the AP.
Since last year, the vast majority of federal rulings have declared same-sex marriages bans unconstitutional, the AP reported.
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B Van Hollen said he would appeal Thursday's ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the AP.
Between the bans being struck down and the order reinstating them as the appeals process ran its course, hundreds of gay couple in both states rushed to marry, the AP reported. Those marriages could have been jeopardized had the 7th Circuit restored the bans.
