U.S. District Judge Ruling: All Florida Clerks Must Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses Starting Jan. 6

2015 is getting off to a great start for gay and lesbian couples in Florida.

After weeks of confusion with many Florida counties avowing not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle ruled New Years Day that all of the Sunshine State's 67 county clerks are bound by the U.S. Constitution not to enforce the state's ban on same-sex marriage. The Miami Herald reports.

"The preliminary injunction now in effect thus does not require the Clerk to issue licenses to other applicants," Hinkle wrote in an order released Thursday afternoon. "But as set out in the order that announced issuance of the preliminary injunction, the Constitution requires the Clerk to issue such licenses."

On Monday, December 29, Florida's Attorney General, Pam Bondi, who had been fighting to keep the ban in place, filed a legal response to Hinkle to clarify whether clerks in all of the state's 67 counties could issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

Hinkle had previously ruled that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. His stayed ruling expires on January 5.