A Florida judge has struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage, marking yet another victory for gay and lesbian couples in 31 states seeking equal marriage rights and benefits.

In a ruling handed down Thursday afternoon in Monroe County Circuit Court in Key West, Judge Luis Garcia said the 2008 amendment to Florida's state constitution outlawing same-sex marriage unfairly denies gay and lesbian individuals the fundamental right to marry.

In doing so, Judge Garcia said the law violates same-sex couples' rights to equal protection and due process under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“The right these plaintiffs seek is not a new right, but is a right that these individuals have always been guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution,” Judge Garcia said in his ruling. “Societal norms and traditions have kept same-sex couple from marrying, like they kept women from voting until 1920 and forbade interracial marriage until 1967.”

For now, the ruling legalizes same-sex marriage only in Monroe County. Judge Garcia ordered County Clerk Amy Heavilin to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on July 22, according to court documents.

Similar lawsuits are underway in several other Florida counties, as well as federal district courts in the state.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday afternoon that her office has appealed Judge Garcia's ruling in the state's Third District Court of Appeal in Miami.

“With many similar cases pending throughout the entire country, finality on this constitutional issue must come from the U.S. Supreme Court,” she said in a statement.

Judge Garcia's ruling makes Florida the 14th state to have its same-sex marriage ban wholly or partially overturned in a state or federal court since the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2013 ruling in U.S. v. Windsor, which invalidated provisions of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman.

Since that ruling, state and federal judges in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Texas, Idaho, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Indiana and now Florida have struck down those states' bans on same-sex marriage in their entirety, while bans in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee have been partially overturned.