US District Judge Vaughn Walker refused Thursday to extend a stay - placed on his ruling that declared California's gay-marriage ban unconstitutional - beyond next week.

The decision clears the way for same-sex marriages to begin again in California on Aug. 18, barring intervention from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Judge Walker did not immediately end the stay to give the appeals court time to weigh in on the matter.

While the judge's decision was greeted with much enthusiasm by opponents of Proposition 8, the voter-approved gay-marriage ban, there was certainly some disappointment among the many unmarried same-sex couples who were lining up at court houses and clerks' offices in anticipation of the stay being lifted Thursday afternoon.