Five additional states began allowing same - sex marriages on Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to make an official ruling on if states can ban such marriages, Reuters reported.
Couples in Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, Indiana and Oklahoma will now be able to wed after the court refused to hear cases seeking to uphold keep same - sex marriage bans in those states.
The number of states allowing these marriages has now jumped from 19 to 24, and six more states are expected to follow.
West Virginia, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado and Wyoming may soon see the disappearance of same - sex marriage bans because they are under the same circuit appeals courts that originally struck down marriage prohibitions. That would leave 20 states that still have bans in place.
Couples in some of the five states jumped at the chance to apply for marriage licenses after the Supreme Court's decision, according to CNN. Tony London and Tim Bostic, of Norfolk, VA, said they were excited to claim their marriage license. The state began issuing licenses at 1 p.m. on Monday.
Plaintiffs Carol Schall and Mary Townley's 16-year-old daughter issued a statement following the announcement, according to ABC News:
"I am so thankful that other children like me can finally hold their heads high knowing their families matter and are finally equal. I cannot wait for the day that all American kids, no matter where they live and no matter who their parents are, are treated equally."
Many court observers are saying they expect a landmark decision on same - sex marriages to come in the next year or two, and that the court's decision on Monday does not mean there won't eventually be a ruling on the issue. It does show that Supreme Court justices are not yet ready to tackle the politically controversial debate at this time.
But the court did not explain why it didn't act on the issue. Some possibilities are that a majority of justices think it's too early to step in if there hasn't been more action in lower courts, or that the Supreme Court is highly divided and neither the conservatives nor the liberals could predict how the issue would unfold.
