LITTLE ROCK — Dozens of gay couples, some of whom waited in line overnight, received licenses to marry from county clerks Monday, while lawyers for the state of Arkansas asked its highest court to suspend an order voiding a constitutional amendment that bans same-sex marriage.
‘‘When we heard the news in Arkansas, we had to jump in the car to get here,’’ 51-year-old Shelly Butler of Dallas said shortly before receiving the first license in Little Rock, the state’s largest city.
Butler met her partner, 48-year-old Susan Barr, at Southern Arkansas University in 1985. They arrived at the courthouse at 6:30 a.m. and were allowed to go to the front of the line because Butler has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair.
‘‘You go from being so private and hidden to such a public display of commitment. It’s just so nice,’’ Barr said.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza tossed out the Arkansas gay marriage ban after business hours Friday, setting up Monday’s run on courthouses in Little Rock and Fayetteville.
Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who recently said he supported gay marriage but would defend the ban, filed paperwork Monday morning formally asking the state Supreme Court to temporarily set aside Piazza’s ruling that had made Arkansas — at least for now — the 18th state in the nation to allow same-sex marriages.
The US Supreme Court last year ruled that a law forbidding the US government from recognizing same-sex marriages was unconstitutional.