The first same-sex marriage licenses in the state of Florida were issued on Monday in Miami-Dade County, hours before same-sex weddings are expected to begin throughout the state.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel lifted a stay on Monday morning that she had previously placed on her July ruling, which struck down the state’s approved ban on same-sex marriage.

Florida’s constitution was amended to ban same-sex marriage in 2008 by voters who approved the ban by a margin of 60 percent. However, Florida judges found the ban to be discriminatory.

In her 36-page page ruling issued on July 25, Zabel found the act to be in violation the equal protection clause the state’s constitution. She compared the plight of same-sex couples to the struggle of other minorities seeking equal protections under the law.

“Notably absent from this protracted march towards social justice was any progress for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community until quite recently,” Zabel wrote in her ruling, according to the LA times. “However, as evidenced by the avalance of court decisions unanimously favoring marriage equality, the dam that was denying justice on this front has been broken.”

Loud cheers rang out through the courtroom when Zabel announced her decision to lift the stay. The county clerk reports that several same-sex marriage licenses were issued shortly before 1 p.m. local time. Cathy Pareto and Karla Arguello and Jeff and Todd Delmay, two of the first couples to receive their marriage licenses, were also plaintiffs in the suit against the ban.

The decision to lift the stay came just 10 hours before same-sex marriages are expected to begin throughout the state of Florida. A stay issued by the U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle, which also struck down the ban due to violating the equal protection clause, is set to expire at midnight Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

Hinkle clarified that the clerks of Florida’s 67 counties will all be required to follow Hinkle’s ruling and issue same-sex marriage licenses once the stay is lifted.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has several appeals in both state and federal courts, seeking to uphold the ban. She requested that the U.S. Supreme Court extend the stay on Hinkle’s ruling to prevent same-sex marriage licenses being issued.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied that request last month.

Same-sex marriage is now legal in over 30 states as well as the District of Columbia. With the addition of Florida’s population, 70 percent of Americans now live in a state where same-sex marriage is legal.