WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order declining to extend the stay on a federal court ruling striking down Florida’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples.  The stay will expire at the end of the day on January 5, 2015, at which point same-sex couples can legally begin marrying in the Sunshine State.

“Committed and loving gay and lesbian couples in Florida are just as deserving of the right to marry as anyone else,” said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “Every day these couples and their families are denied the protections and benefits that come with legal marriage, they risk real and serious consequences.  We look forward to the day that all couples are able to have their relationships recognized as valid under the law.”

Today’s order from the U.S. Supreme Court pertains to an August 21st federal court decision in Brenner v. Scott in which U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle ruled Florida’s ban on marriage equality violates Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. Judge Hinkle stayed his ruling until “until 91 days after stays have been denied or lifted in Bostic v. Schaefer, Bishop v. Smith and Kitchen v. Herbert” – marriage equality cases from other states that were on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court at the time.  The Supreme Court later declined to take up the cases, immediately ending the stays that were in place.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has appealed Judge Hinkle’s ruling in the Brenner case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.  Oral arguments have not yet been scheduled.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. HRC envisions a world where LGBT people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

###