On Sunday, a federal judge struck down Alaska's ban on gay marriage. The ban was the first of its kind.

The state of Alaska will begin accepting those applications first thing Monday morning, Phillip Mitchell, with the state Department of Vital Statistics, told The Associated Press in an email. Alaska has a three-day waiting period between between applications and marriage ceremonies.

The ruling came from a lawsuit brought by five gay couples who wanted to overturn the 1998 amendment that was approved by voters.

The lawsuit sought to bar enforcement of Alaska's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. It also called for barring enforcement of any state laws that refuse to recognize gay marriages legally performed in other states or countries or that prevent unmarried gay couples from marrying.

Arguments were heard on Friday and at 25 page opinion was released on Sunday.

"This Court finds that Alaska's same-sex marriage laws violate the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment because no state interest provides `excessively persuasive justification' for the significant infringement of rights that they inflicted upon homosexual individuals," he wrote.

The governor of Alaska, Sean Parnell said he was going to appeal the ruling. "Although the district court today may have been bound by the recent 9th Circuit panel opinion, the status of that opinion and the law in general in this area is in flux," he said.