Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Arizona

PHOENIX - Same-sex marriage has become legal in Arizona after the state's conservative attorney general said Friday that he wouldn't challenge a federal court decision that cleared the way for same-sex unions in the state.

The announcement prompted gay couples in Phoenix to immediately begin lining up at the downtown courthouse to apply for marriage licenses. There is no waiting period in Arizona that would delay weddings.

The Arizona ruling bookends two weeks of nonstop court decisions across the nation, with judges striking down gay marriage bans and conservative state officials pushing back in a struggle that has increasingly gone in favor of gay marriage supporters.

Since Oct. 6 - when the U.S. Supreme Court let stand rulings from three appeals courts that struck down bans on gay and lesbian marriages - same-sex couples have begun to wed in several new states.

In the West, for example, couples already have tied the knot in Alaska, Idaho and Nevada, making Montana the lone state under the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit Court where same-sex couples have not legally wed.

The federal government Friday announced that it will recognize same-sex marriages in seven new states and extend federal benefits to those couples, which brings the total number of states where gay and lesbian unions have federal recognition to 26, plus the District of Columbia.

Based on the flurry of recent court decisions, including Arizona's ruling Friday, more than 30 states now extend marriage rights to gay couples, and cases are pending in several others.

Arizona's conservative governor, Jan Brewer, who has clashed with President Barack Obama over immigration and other issues, said in a statement that federal courts have thwarted the will of voters and eroded the state's power to regulate laws.

"Simply put, courts should not be in the business of making and changing laws based on their personal agendas," Brewer said. "It is not the role of the judiciary to determine that same-sex marriages should be allowed."

The decision from U.S. District Judge John Sedwick bars Arizona officials from enforcing a 1996 state law and a 2008 voter-approved constitutional amendment that outlawed gay marriage.

Sedwick, who was nominated to the federal bench in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush, ordered the state to "permanently cease" its ban on gay marriage.

Jennifer Pizer, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said she was thrilled with the ruling.

"Some of our couples have been waiting decades. Their happy day has come, and we hope that Arizona embraces this decision and allows same sex couples to enjoy their constitutional rights here in Arizona," said Pizer, an attorney for the Lambda Legal law firm.

Lawyers who pushed both lawsuits argued the state law violated equal-protection and due-process rights and wrongfully denied their clients the benefits of marriage, such as spousal pension benefits, spousal survivorship rights and the ability to make medical decisions for each other.

Attorneys representing the state urged Sedwick to uphold the state's definition of a marriage as a union between a man and woman. They argued the ban furthers the state's interest in connecting a child to his or her biological mother and father and that voters and lawmakers enacted the ban to protect their right to define marriage for their community.

A CBS News/New York Times poll taken in February showed more than half of the country - 56 percent - backs legalizing same-sex marriage.