Same-Sex Marriage Stay Lifted, but marriages delayed to next week

The same Federal Judge who declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional eight days ago, just lifted the stay blocking legal same sex marriages from taking place in California.

Judge Vaughn Walker, U.S. District Judge for The Northern District of California in San Francisco, just lifted the stay minutes ago.

But same-sex marriages can't start until August 18th. That's an adjustment of sorts to California Attorney General Jerry Brown's tweet:

JerryBrown2010
Hoping Judge Walker will allow same-sex couples in CA to marry while the Prop 8 case appeal is pending. We should find out before noon.

The problem, it would seem, is that an appeal can be filed during that gap in time before same sex marriages can commence. Why that gap exists is a mystery, other than that Judge Walker's giving opponents time to file an appeal.

So, this thing's not out of the woods.

Stay tuned.