Photos: Same-sex marriage ban in Alaska ruled unconstitutional

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Gayle Schuh, right, and her wife Julie Schmidt, lower left, toast the same-sex marriage ban in Alaska having been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014, with others gathered to celebrate at Mad Myrna's in Anchorage. Schuh and Schmidt have been together 37 years and married the last seven.

A federal judge ruled Sunday that Alaska's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, paving the way for same-sex couples to begin marrying in the state for the first time. The state quickly said it would appeal the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess, despite recent higher court rulings striking down similar bans around the country.

"The court finds that Alaska's ban on same-sex marriage and refusal to recognize same sex marriages lawfully entered in other states is unconstitutional as a deprivation of basic due process and equal protection principles under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution," Burgess wrote in a order in the case Hamby v. Parnell, released Sunday.

The Hamby suit was filed in May by five same-sex couples. It challenged the state's constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman, approved by voters in 1998. Both parties in the Hamby case made oral arguments in the case on Friday.

In an email, the state said it will appeal Burgess' ruling.

"As Alaska's governor, I have a duty to defend and uphold the law and the Alaska Constitution," Gov. Sean Parnell said in a press release. "Although the district court today may have been bound by the recent Ninth Circuit panel opinion, the status of that opinion and the law in general in this area is in flux. I will defend our constitution."

READ MORE: State vows to appeal after Alaska's same-sex marriage ban struck down