AG Jim Hood Says Same Sex Marriages Cannot Start Immediately

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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says same-sex marriages cannot take place immediately in the state.

Couples started applying for marriage licenses within moments of Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalizes gay marriage nationwide.

But Hood says a federal appeals court in New Orleans must first lift a hold on a gay-marriage court case from Mississippi.

Hood says he doesn’t know how long that could take.

Two lesbian couples and a gay-rights group, Campaign for Southern Equality, sued Mississippi last year over the state’s 1997 law and 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. A federal judge overturned the ban but put marriages on hold while the state appealed.