CINCINNATI — Ohio officials must immediately recognize the same-sex marriages of four couples who sued over the state’s gay marriage ban, a federal judge said Wednesday, while staying the broader effects of his ruling to avoid ‘‘premature celebration and confusion’’ in case it is overturned on appeal.
Judge Timothy Black stayed his ruling ordering Ohio to recognize the marriages of gay couples who wed in other states pending appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. The appeals process could take months.
Had Black not issued the stay, all married gay couples living in Ohio would have been able to immediately begin obtaining the same benefits as any other married couple in the state.
Black said the stay does not apply to the four couples who filed the February lawsuit that led to the court case and ordered Ohio to immediately list both spouses in each relationship as parents on their children’s birth certificates.
In explaining the stay, Black said that although he doesn’t think the state’s appeal will succeed, there is still a chance the Sixth Circuit could overturn his decision.
Dan Tierney, a spokesman for the Ohio attorney general’s office, said that state’s attorneys feel Black’s stay is appropriate but declined to comment further.