Judge lifts Proposition 8 stay - gay marriages on hold

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker had invalidated Proposition 8, the state's ban on same-sex marriage, saying last week it was discriminatory and unconstitutional, but put enforcement of that ruling on hold with a stay.

Then on Thursday, Walker lifted that stay but simultaneously ruled that his order not take effect until 5 p.m. Wednesday.

That gave proponents of Prop. 8 time to ask a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit court for another stay preventing same-sex marriages while that court - and perhaps the U.S. Supreme Court - reviews Walker's invalidation of the ban.

By the end of Thursday, the ban's supporters had done just that. In a 95-page motion, they said a stay would "avoid the confusion and irreparable injury that would flow from the creation of a class of purported same-sex marriages."