U.S. judge rules Arkansas ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters) - A U.S. district judge ruled on Tuesday that an Arkansas constitutional amendment that defines legal marriage as being only the union of one man and one woman was unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker said the Arkansas amendment enacted about a decade ago denied U.S. constitutional guarantees of equal protection under the law for same-sex couples. "These laws impose unconstitutional classifications on the basis of gender in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution," she wrote in her decision. The suit in Arkansas was filed by two, same-sex couples seeking what they said are the same rights of opposite-sex couples. The decision in Arkansas comes after the U.S. Supreme Court last week cleared the way for South Carolina to become the 35th U.S. state where gay marriage is legal, denying a request to block same-same weddings from proceeding. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas and Steve Barnes in Little Rock; Editing by Peter Cooney and Sandra Maler)