Ellington

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge will hear arguments next week in a lawsuit that challenges Mississippi's ban on same-sex marriage.

A hearing before U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves is set for 9 a.m. Wednesday in Jackson.

The lawsuit was filed Oct. 20 by Campaign for Southern Equality and two lesbian couples.

Rebecca "Becky" Bickett and her longtime partner, Andrea Sanders, were denied a Mississippi marriage license this year.

Jocelyn "Joce" (JOH'-see) Pritchett and Carla Webb, live in Mississippi and married in Maine in 2013.

The lawsuit, which represents one side of a legal argument, says Mississippi violates the constitutional rights of gays and lesbians and denies same-sex couples the "rights, benefits and duties that automatically come with marriage."

In November 2004, Mississippi voters approved a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.