A Mississippi pastor brought a horse to a federal courthouse in protest of a federal judge overturning the State's ban on gay marriages.

Bertha Chapel Missionary Baptist Church pastor Edward James stood outside the courthouse with a horse that was wearing a wedding dress, had flowers tucked in its harness, and a bouquet at its hooves.

"The next unnatural law," James' signs read. "Do you take this horse to be your unnatural wedded spouse to have and to hold? This might even be possible after the band [sic] on same sex marriage is lifted.

"Where do we draw the line? Marriage is one man and one woman anything else is a perversion."

James said that his stunt was absurd, but made its point.

"Although it's ridiculous, so is the same-sex marriage status," he told the Clarion-Ledger.

US District Judge Carlton Reeves struck down the State's ban against gay marriages last month, but there is a stay on the decision pending an appeal in the 5th US Circuit Court in New Orleans. The appeals court will hear arguments beginning January 9.

The stay prevents problems such as those the state of Michigan is facing after allowing 300 gay couples to marry before a final decision on same-sex marriage was made.

The marriages were conducted in March, after the state's gay marriage ban was lifted, and eight of the couples have filed suit against the state and Governor Rick Snyder in order for their marriages to be recognised. The decision to lift the ban was repealed in November by the federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Gay marriage has been a contentious issue over the past two years, and bans against gay marriage have been reversed or are currently in litigation in all 50 states.