The Rev. Tony Larsen and his partner, Craig Matheus, are refused a marriage license by Racine County Clerk Wendy Christensen, right, in the clerk's office in Racine, Wisconsin, on Friday, June 13. The county does not grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite a judge's ruling that the state ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. 
Pastor Carol Hill from Epworth United Methodist Church speaks during a beachfront marriage equality ceremony at the Kathy Osterman Beach in Chicago, on Sunday, June 1, 2014. June 1 marked the first day that all of Illinois' 102 counties could begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. 
William Roletter, left, and Paul Rowe, right, press close to one another after having their photo taken with their newly acquired marriage certificate at City Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 21. 
Julie Engbloom, left, and Laurie Brown embrace after being wed in Portland, Oregon, on Monday, May 19, after a federal judge struck down the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. 
Jennifer Rambo, right, kisses her partner, Kristin Seaton, after their marriage ceremony in front of the Carroll County Courthouse in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, on Saturday, May 10. At left is Sheryl Maples, the lead attorney who filed the Wright v. State of Arkansas lawsuit. Rambo and Seaton were the first same-sex couple to be granted a marriage license in Eureka Springs after a judge overturned Amendment 83, which banned same-sex marriage in the state of Arkansas. 
Same-sex couples get their marriage licenses at the Oakland County Courthouse in Pontiac, Michigan, on Saturday, March 22, a day after a federal judge overturned Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage. 
Utah state Sen. Jim Dabakis, left, and Stephen Justesen acknowledge the crowd after being married in Salt Lake City on Friday, December 20. A federal judge struck down Utah's ban on same-sex marriage, saying it conflicted with the constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process. Many Utah counties began issuing marriage licenses before the state appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court temporarily blocked enforcement of the lower court ruling until the constitutional questions are fully resolved. 
Plaintiffs Laurie Wood, left, and Kody Partridge, center, and attorney Peggy Tomsic leave a federal courthouse in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, December 4, after a judge heard arguments challenging Utah's same-sex marriage ban. 
Hawaiian Gov. Neil Abercrombie, left, and former Sen. Avery Chumbley celebrate with a copy of the Star-Advertiser after Abercrombie signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in Hawaii on Wednesday, November 13, in Honolulu. Hawaii's same-sex marriage debate began in 1990, when two women applied for a marriage license, leading to a court battle and a 1993 state Supreme Court decision that their rights to equal protection were violated by not letting them marry. Now the state is positioning itself for an increase in tourism as visitors arrive to take advantage of the law, which took effect December 2. 
Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker officiates a wedding ceremony for Joseph Panessidi and Orville Bell at City Hall on Monday, October 21. The state Supreme Court denied the state's request to prevent same-sex marriages temporarily, clearing the way for same-sex couples to marry. 
A couple celebrates at San Francisco City Hall upon hearing about the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on same-sex marriage on June 26, 2013. The high court cleared the way for same-sex couples in California to resume marrying after dismissing an appeal on Proposition 8 on jurisdictional grounds. 
In the other June 26 ruling, the Supreme Court struck down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Jamous Lizotte, right, and Steven Jones pose for photos while waiting for a marriage license in Portland, Maine, in December 2012. 
At the state Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota on May 14, 2013, Gov. Mark Dayton signs a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. 
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell holds up legislation on May 7, 2013, allowing same-sex couples to wed in the state. 
Rhode Island state Sen. Donna Nesselbush, right, embraces a supporter after the Marriage Equality Act was signed into law at the statehouse in Providence on May 2, 2013. 
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, center, shakes hands with Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller after signing a same-sex marriage bill on March 1, 2012. The law was challenged, but voters approved marriage equality in a November 2012 referendum. 
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire celebrates after signing marriage equality legislation into law on February 13, 2012. Voters there approved same-sex marriage in November 2012. 
Phyllis Siegel, 76, right, kisses her wife, Connie Kopelov, 84, after exchanging vows at the Manhattan City Clerk's office with New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn in attendance on July 24, 2011, the first day New York state's Marriage Equality Act went into effect. 
In 2010, television reporter Roby Chavez, right, shares a moment with gay rights activist Frank Kameny during Chavez and Chris Roe's wedding ceremony in the nation's capital. Same-sex marriage became legal in Washington on March 9, 2010. 
Olin Burkhart, left, and Carl Burkhart kiss on the steps of the New Hampshire Capitol in Concord in January 2010 as the state's law allowing same-sex marriage goes into effect. 
Maine state Sen. Dennis Damon left, hands Gov. John Baldacci the bill that the state Senate passed to affirm the right for same-sex couples to marry on May 6, 2009. 
Beth Robinson of the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force, who is among those who fought for marriage equality, on April 7, 2009. 
Amy Klein-Matheny, left, and her wife, Jennifer, exchange vows in Iowa after same-sex couples were allowed to marry there with a court ruling on April 3. 
Michael Miller, left, and Ross Zachs marry on the West Hartford Town Hall steps after same-sex marriages became legal in Connecticut on November 12, 2008. 
Lara Ramsey, left, and her partner of eight years, Jane Lohmann, play with their 7-month-old son, Wyatt Ramsey-Lohmann. The two wed in 2004 after Massachusetts approved same-sex marriage. Massachusetts was the first state in the U.S. to do so.
- U.S. Supreme Court says marriage recognition not currently required
- Utah is appealing after judge rejected state ban on same-sex marriages
- Issue will have to go through the appeals process
- Same-sex wedding licenses put on hold in Colorado counties
(CNN) -- Utah officials for the time being do not have to formally recognize hundreds of same-sex marriages performed last December and earlier this year, after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday granted the state's request for a delay.
Gov. Gary Herbert and Attorney General Sean Reyes had told the justices the issue of whether the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional remains pending in the lower courts.
Having to recognize those same sex marriages before the larger legal questions are fully decided, said the state, would be too disruptive.
Once the constitutional issues are fully resolved --- likely by the Supreme Court in the next year or so -- both sides in the debate "will know the status of the interim marriages. Until then, requiring [the state] to recognize plaintiffs' marriages and provide marital benefits is premature and unwarranted," said the appeal.
In a one-paragraph order, the high court agreed. But that temporary action does not signal what the justices will ultimately think about the larger constitutional issues raised by gay and lesbian couples seeking a right to wed.
A federal appeals court late last month affirmed Utah's voter-approved Amendment 3 violated the equal protection rights of same-sex couples. The law currently defines marriage only between one man and one woman.
A group of plaintiffs then asked that court to order the state to recognize those marriage licenses already issued in late December and January. The judges did so, prompting the state's current stay request to the Supreme Court
About 1,300 same-sex couples obtained marriage licenses in the 17 days after a federal judge ruled on December 20 that Utah's ban was unconstitutional. Those marriages were stopped after a separate, temporary stay was put in place in January by the Supreme Court. That was the issue in the current litigation.
The case is Herbert v. Evans (14A65).
Same-sex marriages also were the subject of a ruling in Colorado on Friday.
County clerks in the Denver area have been ordered by the state's highest court to cease issuing same-sex marriage licenses, until the issue is fully decided.
The state attorney general had asked for the injunction, saying he plans to defend Colorado's voter-approved measure defining marriages as only between one man and one woman.
John Suthers had argued allowing those marriages to go through while the issue is still being debated in the courts would be "legal chaos."
After local judges in Colorado in recent weeks week also ruled the state's ban to be unconstitutional, several local clerks -- in Denver, Adams, Pueblo, and Boulder -- said they had to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples who requested them. But the state high court's action puts all that on hold for the time being.
The same federal appeals court that acted in the Utah case on Friday also tossed out Oklahoma's ban. Both states plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to have the final say.
Same-sex marriage: Fast Facts
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