Late Monday evening, Florida's Attorney General Pam Bondi asked the Supreme Court to block same-sex marriage next month "while the state continues its legal defense of its constitutional definition of marriage as a heterosexual union."

A district court judge threw out the state ban but stayed the effect of his order. A Dec. 3 ruling by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeal in Atlanta opened the possibility of gay marriages statewide starting Jan. 6.

In a statement, Bondi's office said she asked the Supreme Court to intervene to keep the stay so as to "maintain uniformity and order throughout Florida until final resolution of the numerous challenges to the voter-approved constitutional amendment on marriage."

Two other states, Kansas and South Carolina, recently lost when they went to the Supreme Court block same-sex marriage.

ACLU lawyer Daniel Tilley said it was "unsurprising" the state would continue to fight against gay marriage.

"Since October, the Supreme Court has refused all requests to stay rulings striking down the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage in other states," Tilley said in a statement. "We are hopeful they will do the same here, so that loving couples and their children can get the protections for which they have waited so long."