SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal appeals court's finding that Utah's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional marks the most important ruling for the gay marriage movement since last summer's landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down part of a federal anti-gay marriage law. Gay rights activists have won 16 lower court cases over the past year. Judges in a total of six federal appeals courts and one state appeals court are hearing appeals of lower court rulings that overturned gay marriage bans or ordered states to recognize out-of-state marriages. The Supreme Court last year found that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that forbade the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage improperly deprived gay couples of due process. Lower-court judges have repeatedly cited that Supreme Court decision when striking down same-sex marriage bans. Legal experts say the Supreme Court eventually will take a gay marriage case after one or more appeals court rulings, but that won't happen until 2015 at the earliest.