LINCOLN, NEB. ? A federal judge Thursday struck down Nebraska’s ban on gay marriage, saying the measure interferes not only with the rights of gay couples but also with those of foster parents, adopted children and people in a host of other living arrangements.

The constitutional amendment, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, was passed overwhelmingly by state voters in November 2000.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon said the ban “imposes significant burdens on both the expressive and intimate associational rights” of gays “and creates a significant barrier to the plaintiffs’ right to petition or to participate in the political process.”

Bataillon said the ban “goes far beyond merely defining marriage as between a man and a woman.”

The judge said the “broad proscriptions could also interfere with or prevent arrangements between potential adoptive or foster parents and children, related persons living together, and people sharing custody of children as well as gay individuals.”

Forty states have laws barring same-sex marriages, but Nebraska’s ban went further, prohibiting same-sex couples from enjoying many of the legal protections that heterosexual couples enjoy. Gays and lesbians who work for the state or the University of Nebraska system, for example, were banned from sharing health insurance and other benefits with their partners.

Last month, Kansas voters approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

Nebraska has no state law against gay marriage, but state Atty. Gen. Jon Bruning said same-sex marriages were not allowed before the ban and would not be permitted now.

Bruning said he would appeal the ruling.