A federal judge ruled late Thursday evening Virginia’s gay marriage ban is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen’s decision makes Virginia the second state in the South to have a ban on gay marriages overturned. It comes the day after a similar ruling in Kentucky and following similar rulings in federal courts in Utah and Oklahoma.

Case Challenging Gay Marriage Man Heard in Va.

Wright stayed her decision until an appeals court rules, meaning that gay couples will not be able to marry in the state immediately.

Thursday, Wright ruled the ban violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment.

Virginians voted to constitutionally define marriage between a man and a woman in 2006. Recently-elected Attorney General Mark Herring announced earlier this year he would not uphold it, paving the way for hearings challenging the ban.

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