A court in Arkansas has ordered state officials to recognize more than 500 same-sex marriages performed in May last year.
The move will allow the same-sex couples to enjoy benefits including filing their taxes jointly and enrolling together in state health insurance plans.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen affirmed the marriage licenses of the same-sex couples on Tuesday after another judge voided Arkansas' gay marriage ban.
"With shameless disrespect for fundamental fairness and equality, (Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration Director Larry Walther) insists on treating the marriages of same-sex couples who received marriage licenses between May 9 and May 15 as 'void from inception as a matter of law,'" said Griffen in his ruling.
Commenting on the ruling, Republican Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said, "These marriages do not fall within the State's definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. I am evaluating the ruling and will determine the best path forward to protect the State's interest."
Last February, some gay couples who got married in Arkansas last year filed a lawsuit against the state, saying the state violated their rights by not recognizing their marriages.
Lawyer Cheryl Maples, who represented two couples who sued Arkansas, lauded the ruling.
"They finally got some major progress they've been waiting so long for. They've been married over a year now and as of right now they're really married," she said.
Judge Griffen presided over gay marriage ceremonies in May last year.
The Supreme Court will decide on the legality of gay marriages in the US later this month.
The Arkansas Supreme Court has yet to rule on gay marriage. Earlier, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled as unconstitutional a 2004 voter-approved ban on gay marriage.
The Arkansas Attorney General's office told Griffen in court last Monday that the gay marriages were not legal and valid because Piazza's ruling did not specifically voided a state law prohibiting clerks from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Piazza later voided that law.
"Put simply, Judge Piazza's intent in his May 9 order was to stop the state of Arkansas from prohibiting same-sex couples from being married," Griffen said.
