DENVER -- A third Colorado county began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples Friday even though the legal fight is far from resolved in the state.

Pueblo County joined Denver and Boulder counties in allowing gay couples to marry a day after a state judge ruled the Boulder clerk can continue issuing the licenses.

By day's end, 25 couples had received licenses in Pueblo County, including two people from Mississippi who heard the news while traveling through the state and decided to get a license, Clerk Gilbert Ortiz said.

Some couples exchanged vows outside the clerk's office while others took them home to hold a ceremony later.

Colorado's 2006 voter-approved gay marriage ban remains on the books. But District Judge Andrew Hartman noted it is "hanging on by a thread" after rulings by another state court and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In Denver, Clerk Debra Johnson began granting gay-marriage licenses Thursday afternoon, shortly after Hartman issued his ruling.

The county has granted about 40 licenses to gay couples.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers had sought to block the issuing of licenses, warning of "legal chaos." In a statement Thursday, he pledged to go to the state Supreme Court as soon as possible "to prevent a legal patchwork quilt from forming."

In Boulder County, more than 120 couples have married since its clerk started issuing licenses two weeks ago, when the appeals court found Utah's gay-marriage ban unconstitutional.

A Section on 07/12/2014