NEW ORLEANS — Marriage equality supporters in Louisiana have given formal notice of their appeal of a federal court ruling upholding the state’s same-sex marriage ban.
Forum for Equality Louisiana and several gay couples filed their notices Thursday and Friday in their challenge of the ban.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman upheld Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage and its refusal to recognize same-sex unions legally performed in other states.
In his ruling, Feldman referred to legalizing same-sex marriage as recognition of “personal … lifestyle choices.”
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Feldman’s ruling was a rare federal court loss for same-sex marriage advocates. A day later, the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit appeals court rejected bans in Wisconsin and Indiana.
Previously, the 4th and 10th Circuit appeals courts also ruled same-sex marriage bans in Virginia, Utah and Oklahoma are unconstitutional. A ruling from the 6th Circuit is pending on bans in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee.
The Louisiana appeal goes to the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, where a Texas same-sex marriage case also is pending. In that case, a federal judge ruled Texas’ ban unconstitutional
