An attorney representing 19 Maryland gays and lesbians urged the state's highest court Monday to repeal a ban on same-sex marriage, saying it carries "no constitutionally sufficient justification."

Nine same-sex couples and a gay man whose partner is dead filed a lawsuit in 2004 against court clerks who denied their applications for marriage licenses. In January, Baltimore Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock struck down the law defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman, and the state immediately appealed.

The Associated Press reports that the State Court of Appeals gave no indication Monday of how it would rule; a decision could take months.

During an hour-long argument in a crowded chamber of the Court of Appeals in Annapolis, attorney Kenneth Y. Choe of the American Civil Liberties Union invoked the civil rights struggle and said the ability to marry is a fundamental right that belongs to all Marylanders, not only to those for whom that right has always been recognized, reports the Washington Post.

"Despite the fact that plaintiffs have formed committed relationships and loving households, the state excludes them and their children from the numerous important protections that come with marriage solely because the person whom they love is a person of the same sex," he said, reports the Post.

On behalf of the state, Assistant Attorney General Robert A. Zarnoch urged the court to let stand the statute that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Arguing that the judiciary should defer to the legislature, Zarnoch noted that no federal or state appellate court in the country has held that, as the plaintiffs argue, there is a fundamental right to same-sex marriage.

"An invalidation of Maryland's law would have the unfortunate consequence of placing these issues outside the arena of public debate, outside the legislative and democratic process," Zarnoch said, reports the Post.

After the arguments before the seven Court of Appeals judges, the plaintiffs, their supporters and their detractors spoke outside the court building about the historical implications of the lawsuit, which supporters see as an extension of the civil rights movement.

"The times have changed. We're not invisible anymore," said Dan Furmansky, executive director of the gay-rights group Equality Maryland, the AP reports. "What we can't do is be legally married and legally related to our partners... We ask our fellow Marylanders today to walk a mile in our shoes."

The court took the case after the state appealed a ruling by Judge Murdock, who held in January that the 1973 law banning same-sex marriage is discriminatory and "cannot withstand constitutional challenge." In anticipation of an appeal, Murdock stayed her decision when she announced it.

With Murdock's ruling, Maryland was thrust deep into a debate that has raged across the country at least since 1996, when Congress passed a law barring federal recognition of same-sex marriages and allowing states to do the same.

Until next time!