As expected, proponents of California's Proposition 8 petitioned a federal appeals court Tuesday (21 February) to review a recent ruling which found the ban on gay marriage unconstitutional.

The filing keeps same-sex marriages in the state on hold at least until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals makes a ruling on the petition.

'Generally speaking, we think the 9th Circuit as a whole deserves the chance to basically fix this because the decision is such an outlier,' Andy Pugno, legal counsel for the Protect Marriage Coalition, tells the Associated Press. 'It's really not representative of what the 9th Circuit's thinking on this issue has been.'

Two weeks ago, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled that Proposition 8 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The judges wrote that Prop. 8 'serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.'

The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the group which brought forth the lawsuit that led to the court case, blasted gay marriage opponents for this latest legal step.

'Today’s petition shows how far the anti-marriage proponents of Proposition 8 will go to ensure that gay and lesbian Americans remain second-class citizens,' said AFER Board President Chad Griffin.  'It is time for this discrimination to come to an end once and for all.   Separate is never equal—and I am confident that one day, very soon, every American will be able to enjoy the fundamental freedom to marry.'