The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled unanimously Thursday in favor of gay and lesbian couples seeking equal marriage rights and benefits in Indiana and Wisconsin.

In upholding rulings by federal judges that struck down amendments to both states' constitutions banning same-sex marriage, the three-judge 7th Circuit panel said, “The governments of Indiana and Wisconsin have given us no reason to think they have a 'reasonable basis' for forbidding same-sex marriage.”

“The challenged laws discriminate against a minority defined by an immutable characteristic, and the only rationale that the states put forth with any conviction — that same-sex couples and their children don't need marriage because same-sex couples can't produce children, intended or unintended — is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously,” Judge Richard Posner wrote in the court's 40-page opinion. “The discrimination against same-sex couples is irrational, and therefore unconstitutional even if the discrimination is not subjected to heightened scrutiny.”

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller have both indicated plans to appeal the 7th Circuit's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“It seems clear that a final resolution of the constitutional issues involving states' authority over their marriage licenses will need a decision from our nation's highest court,” Mr. Zoeller said in a statement released shortly after the 7th Circuit issued its ruling. “Hopefully, for the interests of everyone on both sides of these cases, the Supreme Court will make a ruling sooner rather than later.”

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen plans to appeal the 7th Circuit's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, a spokeswoman said.

Thursday's ruling marks another victory for marriage equality advocates at the appeals court level. In July, judicial panels in the 4th and 10th circuits upheld prior district court rulings legalizing same-sex marriage in Oklahoma, Virginia and Utah.

In August, state officials in Oklahoma and Utah petitioned the Supreme Court to render a final verdict on states' rights to deny same-sex couples access to spousal rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2013 ruling in United States v. Edith Windsor, which invalidated provisions of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, proponents of state-level prohibitions of same-sex marriage have prevailed in just two cases.

Most recently, a Louisiana federal judge ruled Wednesday in favor of preserving the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

A Roane County, Tennessee, Circuit Court judge also ruled in favor of banning same-sex marriage, finding in August that Tennessee's anti-gay marriage law does not violate the U.S. Constitution because the Supreme Court has never explicitly held that same-sex marriage is a fundamental right.