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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Civil liberties and gay-rights groups are challenging Virginia's same-sex marriage ban in court.

The ACLU of Virginia and Lambda Legal say they'll discuss the complaint after filing it Thursday. The ACLU first announced plans to sue last month.

Virginia voters in 2006 approved a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage and denying recognition of such marriages sanctioned by other states.

Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that denied federal benefits to married gay couples. The justices also left intact a lower court ruling overturning California's gay marriage ban. That decision was based on a legal technicality and did not address the law's constitutionality.

A Norfolk couple already is challenging Virginia's gay marriage ban in another federal lawsuit.

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