Four same-sex couples sued the state of Utah on Tuesday over Governor Gary Herbert's refusal to recognize gay marriages performed during a brief period while same-sex matrimony was legal in the conservative, heavily Mormon state, court documents showed.
A federal judge struck down Utah's voter-approved ban on gay marriages in December, ruling that it was unconstitutional. State officials later won a stay of that ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court pending an appeal to a Denver circuit court.
Herbert's office has said that Utah can't officially recognize the roughly 1,400 marriages that took place before the stay was issued, as the legal battle plays out.
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