On Monday, United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an order temporarily blocking gay marriage in Kansas.

Acording to CBS News, the brief order puts on hold a lower-court order that would allow same-sex couples to marry despite a ban in Kansas on gay marriage. Civil liberties attorneys are saying that delaying gay marriage in Kansas will harm same-sex couples and their families, Huffington Post reports.

Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit for two lesbian couples. The couples challenged the state's gay marriage ban which resulted in the lower-court order, according to CBS.

Sotomayor directed the ACLU to file a response to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt's request by Tuesday, Fox News Latino reports.

Equality Kansas Executive Director Tom Witt said the response could quickly make Sotomayor reconsider.

The ACLU responded to the request Tuesday afternoon. Kansas requested that the court maintain the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

Last week, a federal judge ordered Kansas to stop enforcing its ban, but the state appealed the order to the nation's highest court, resulting in Sotomayor putting the judge's order on hold, according to Huffington Post.

Advocates for same sex marriage were not sure if gay couples would be able to get marriage licenses because of so much confusion over the issue; a lower court says yes, but the higher court says no.

Witt said even if the U.S. Supreme Court lifts the ban for gay marriage in Kansas, it is not clear whether licenses will be issued to same-sex couples in all 105 counties.

Schmidt says the complex legal situation calls for keeping the ban in place for now.

"The road to freedom is sometimes circuitous," ACLU attorney Doug Bonney said.

Kansas never has recognized same-sex marriages, and voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the state constitution in 2005 to reinforce the gay marriage ban, according to the The Associated Press.

Same-sex marriage is legal in 32 states.

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