Fox NewsA federal judge struck down Utah’s same-sex marriage ban Friday in a decision that brings an increasing nationwide shift toward allowing gay marriage to a conservative state where the Mormon church has long been against it.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby issued a 53-page ruling saying Utah’s law passed by voters in 2004 violates gay and lesbian couples’ rights to due process and equal protection under the 14th Amendment.
Shelby said the state failed to show that allowing same-sex marriages would affect opposite-sex marriages in any way.
“In the absence of such evidence, the State’s unsupported fears and speculations are insufficient to justify the State’s refusal to dignify the family relationships of its gay and lesbian citizens,” Shelby wrote.
Late Friday, the state filed both a notice of appeal of the ruling and a request for an emergency stay that would stop marriage licenses from being issued to same-sex couples. It’s unknown when the judge will make a decision on whether to grant the stay.
“It will probably take a little bit of time to get everything in place,” said Ryan Bruckman, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office. He said the judge told the attorney general’s office it would be a couple of days before any request for an emergency stay would be reviewed.
Gov. Gary Herbert vowed to “defend traditional marriage” in light of the ruling.
“I am very disappointed an activist federal judge is attempting to override the will of the people of Utah,” Herbert said in a statement. “I am working with my legal counsel and the acting attorney general to determine the best course to defend traditional marriage within the borders of Utah.”
The Salt Lake County clerk’s office started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Deputy Clerk Dahnelle Burton-Lee said the district attorney authorized her office to begin issuing the licenses but she couldn’t immediately say how many have been issued so far.
Utah’s lawsuit was brought by three gay and lesbian couples. One of the couples was legally married in Iowa and just wants that license recognized in Utah.
One of those couples, Moudi Sbeity and Derek Kitchen, were roasting eggplants for a farmer’s market tomorrow when their lawyer, Peggy Tomsic, called them with the big news.
“We had a positive feeling after the hearing on Dec. 4, but it’s still a surprise to hear it,” Sbeity said. “We’re excited and happy and hopeful to see what happens what next.”
The couple, which owns a company that makes Middle Eastern food spreads and sells them to supermarkets, won’t be getting married right away. They want to see if the state appeals.
Another of the couples, Laurie Wood and Kody Partridge, said they were elated.
“I’m just kind of in shock. My brother called and said, `When are you getting married?” said Wood, 58, an English professor Utah Valley University.
The ruling comes the same week New Mexico’s highest court legalized gay marriage after declaring it unconstitutional to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. A new law passed in Hawaii last month now allows gay couples to marry there.
During a nearly four-hour hearing earlier this month in Salt Lake City, attorneys for the state argued that Utah’s law promotes the state’s interest in “responsible procreation” and the “optimal mode of child-rearing.” They also asserted it’s not the courts’ role to determine how a state defines marriage, and that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last summer that struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act doesn’t give same-sex couples the universal right to marry.
Many similar challenges to same-sex marriage bans are pending in other states, but the Utah case has been closely watched because of the state’s history of staunch opposition to gay marriage as the home of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The church said in a statement Friday that it stands by its support for “traditional marriage.”
“We continue to believe that voters in Utah did the right thing by providing clear direction in the state constitution that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and we are hopeful that this view will be validated by a higher court,” the church said.
Tomsic applauded Shelby’s courage in making the ruling but warned that the legal fight is not over, saying she expects the state to take the case to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
During this month’s hearing, Tomsic contended marriage is a fundamental right protected by the U.S. Constitution. She said the case embodies the civil rights movement of our time, saying discrimination has gone on long enough.
She said Utah’s law, which passed with two-thirds of the vote, is “based on prejudice and bias that is religiously grounded in this state.”
In the ruling, Shelby wrote that the right to marry is a fundamental right protected by the U.S. Constitution.
“These rights would be meaningless if the Constitution did not also prevent the government from interfering with the intensely personal choices an individual makes when that person decides to make a solemn commitment to another human being,” Shelby wrote.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
as it was in the days of Sodom and Gamorra
As it was …. is now again.
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Well said my dear.
😉
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No one has the right to tell others how to live their lives, ever. If you do not like it well tough we are supposed to be a free country, hate it all you want but you have no right to control the life of someone else. Marriage is a government contract done at a court house or it is done at a church, temple, etc. If you do not like it well then your church should not hold marriages and end of story but never try and take the freedom of choice from someone else. Learn to leave each other alone, it is a free country.
A free country? On what fantasy planet do you live on?
hah you’ve got that right my friend.
You missed the “supposed” part at the beginning apparently.
ve`kar, free country my ass f**k you. I know people that did time including myself that we did nothing criminal. F you and your free attitude country you talk about. You remind me of a rat snitch I used to know – like I said used to know 🙁 . Free country when we the people take control of it again damned it.
Absolutely Digger. You ROCK!!!
Thanks Paul for your support. I did a lot of time for my brothers and sisters that didn`t have the balls to do their own time. I didn`t do anything illegal but I still did my time for my freinds – I was their freind, they were not my freinds by leaving me take the blame for them. I kind of take it personal with clowns that think like this ve`kar caracter. I may be wrong but I had a lot ot time under my belt along with a lot of their so called careing counseling/rehab bastards. Yep the crooked system owes me a lot for all the time and sadistic rehab they confined and sentenced me to. People like this ve`kar need to wake up and see just what they are talking about. Thanks again for your support Paul
Hey my friend. My father in law who is 92 has a big problem with all these bleeding heart, self righteous idiots who think they really know something, when all along they wouldn’t hold a candle to his absolute bravery in the face of death, concentration camps, starvation, and torture. He also believes that Jesus Christ has protected him down through the years, and I do as well. I don’t have a very good way with words when i am outraged by someones stupidity. so i have to think a while. as Paul said in scripture, “them that are ignorant, let them be ignorant” (inspired by God). there is another verse that says “do not cast pearls to swine”. that was brutally paraphrased by me. God love you my friend.
You missed the “supposed” part at the beginning apparently.
In one breath you say we can not tell other people to live their lives but in another you say that if a church does not want to wed same sex couples then they cant wed any one at all. You and screwed up people like you do this, you say your granting freedoms but you have to take them away from others to do it, if a church wants to hold true to it’s doctrine and not wed perverts then that is up to it and it’s congregation not you, if same sex couples want to get married in a church then find one that is teaching it’s followers wrong and go there, leave “choice” up to the church. BTW: as a percentage, homosexuals are more likely to molest a child than a hetero, I just wanted to throw that last fact in there though it does not have anything to do with the topic.
“These rights would be meaningless if the Constitution did not also prevent the government from interfering with the intensely personal choices an individual makes when that person decides to make a solemn commitment to another human being,”
How about when that person decides to own a firearm? Or express some anti-government opinions? Why isn’t the government prevented from interfering with those rights?
And as long as gays can get married, why are we limited to “another human being”? Is the intention here to discriminate against all the fine, upstanding members of our society who have sex with farm animals?
That’s an outrage. One of my neighbors is in love with a sheep. Why can’t they tie the knot too?
Tis none of my or the govt.s business what adults do with each other,same with the drug laws ect. unless say dui then you are potentially hurting others,just your faith/morals ect. though being offended,tough,that is part of freedom.As for the bestiality comment,well,unless you are doc dolittle animals cannot consent,we are talking adults here who can consent,I do see a big difference here!On a side note love women and am easy,dozens of women cannot be wrong!
Dead on.
Clarification of “marriage” between gays should actually be legally defined as a “confirmation of legal cohabitation” or some such definition.
The only reason it is called “marriage” for gays is because under the law benefits can then be obtained legally and the second partner can be included on those benefits. It has nothing to do with procreation the way God has intended it to be.
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Marriage is such a fluid term, look at the divorce rate; it should adequately be dubbed as you stated: “cohabitation.”
Well, I suppose. 🙂
We make our will known, we work the system as they want us too
and what do they do? They have the jew-dicial system simply bang
a gavel and say “nope.” Were treated like serfs. Well serfs have been
known to revolt you know.