NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A judge blocked a Sept. 18 vote on a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages, but suspended his order so the state can appeal directly to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Civil District Judge Christopher Bruno’s temporary order struck down the balloting on grounds that Sept. 18 is not a statewide election date as the Constitution requires.

In nine parishes, the amendment would be the only thing on the ballot.

However, a state lawyer said after the hearing that Louisiana law defines elections in September and November as statewide elections.

“Under the statute, the September date is the statewide primary,” Assistant State Attorney General Roy Mongrue said after the hearing.

Mongrue said he would immediately appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

The judge scheduled a trial Aug. 20 on whether to make his order permanent.

John Rawls, lead attorney for three individuals and a group called the Forum for Equality, was elated: “This is a great day for the Louisiana state Constitution.”

“All Louisianans fall into one minority or another,” he said. “The Constitution is there to protect minorities from the majority.”

Louisiana already has a law stating that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Amendment supporters want to protect that law in the Constitution.

The state Constitution guarantees the rights to enter into contracts and own property. Rawls said the amendment would invalidate contracts which same-sex couples have drawn up to own houses together or to share responsibility for children.

The judge did not rule on that and other arguments the attorneys concentrated on.

Mongrue told the judge that the people have the right to change the Constitution.

“People cannot pass an un-repealable Constitution ... Why? The people put it together,” Mongrue said.

Rawls said the proposal violates a requirement that any constitutional amendment serve one purpose only. By forbidding any “legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals,” it would outlaw a host of other relationships – some of them heterosexual, he said.

A nearly identical case was dismissed recently in Orleans Parish Civil District Court because it was brought under the election code, and state law requires all such suits to be filed in Baton Rouge.

Forum attorneys both took that ruling to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal and filed another suit in state district court in Baton Rouge.

The 4th Circuit, which both sides had expected to use the fast-track schedule for an election challenge, did not set a hearing date. Instead, it scheduled plaintiffs to file their briefs Sept. 7 and defendants to file theirs on Sept. 27 – nine days after the election. That means any hearing on where the suit should have been filed won’t be held until after the election.

“Our goal obviously is to get the Supreme Court to rule one way or the other,” Mongrue said. “We hope one of these will be a vehicle for them to do this.”

Louisiana is among at least 11 states where voters decide this fall whether their constitutions should forbid same-sex marriage. Petition signatures are being counted in two more states to determine if the issue will be on those ballots.