The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday gave no indication that it plans to take up the issue of whether states can ban gay marriage in its new term.

Seven cases involving gay marriage are pending before the court, but none of those cases were on a list of the cases the court agreed to hear in its new term, which starts Monday, according to a Reuters report.

The Supreme Court could still hear cases involving gay marriage in the new term even though they were left off the preliminary list. The court often takes time to assess particularly controversial cases before agreeing to hear them.

If the court does agree to hear one or more of the gay marriage cases, it will have the chance to make a decision on if and when gay couples in the 31 U.S. states that ban same-sex marriage could obtain marriage license.

Gay marriage is riding a wave of favorable court decisions that began on the heels of a June 2013 Supreme Court decision -- in a case titled U.S. v. Windsor -- that eliminated a part of a federal law that gave federal government benefits to only heterosexual married couples.

Public opinion on gay marriage has changed significantly over the past decade, with both politicians and the American public voicing their support of same-sex marriage.

Supreme Court justices on Monday are expected to throw out hundreds of appeals cases, but it's not expected that the gay marriage cases will be among those, according to an Associated Press report.

The justices will meet again on Oct. 10 to consider other cases that they plan to hear and those cases added to the docket will be revealed on Oct. 14.

Legal analysts assume that the court is taking its time on adding the same-sex marriage cases to the docket because the precedent set by a gay marriage decision would have ramifications across the country.