The states – Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee – have so far waged their battles separately, fighting to uphold the bans that voters years ago embraced. Each state faces slightly different challenges filed by same-sex couples, including the right to adopt children as a couple, to have their names placed on a partner’s death certificate and to have their marriages – performed legally elsewhere – recognized in the states they call home, where same-sex marriage is illegal.

Despite the variations in the attacks, make no mistake: The ultimate targets are the bans, and the real goal is the right to marry, adopt children and enjoy the same rights that opposite-sex couples have when they exchange vows.

“Putting all of the arguments on the same day back-to-back is certainly unusual and actually a very good move,” said Al Gerhardstein, the lawyer heading the challenge to Ohio’s same-sex marriage ban. “That way the panel gets the benefit of all the arguments at once, giving them a chance at harmonizing the law in this area.”