Since October 6, 2014, same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in the United States state of Virginia, after a decision by the United States Supreme Court to decline to accept an appeal from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Bostic v. Virginia. The Fourth Circuit had affirmed the right of gays and lesbians in Virginia to marry, giving the state one of the last holdouts in granting marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples. Virginia was one of four states within the Fourth Circuit that did not allow for gay marriage. The other three were North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia. In July 2013, the Fourth Circuit ruled 5-4 that the district court did not err when it found that Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage violated the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. In August 2013, Governor Bob McDonnell announced his support for gay marriage, becoming the first Republican governor in the country to do so. Shortly thereafter, the Virginia Senate passed a bill that would have allowed gay and lesbian couples to marry, but the House of Delegates voted it down 99-43. In September 2013, Senator Adam Ebbin introduced legislation to legalize gay marriage in Virginia, but it never received any further attention from legislative leaders.