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| FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2013 file photo, Derek Kitchen, left, and his partner Moudi Sbeity look at each other following court in Salt Lake City. A challenge to Utah's same-sex marriage ban by three gay couples was back in court Dec. 4, as a federal court judge heard arguments. A federal judge struck down Utah's same-sex marriage ban Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in a decision that brings a nationwide shift toward allowing gay marriage to a conservative state where the Mormon church has long been against it. |
SALT LAKE CITY
(AP) -- Cheers erupted as the mayor of Salt Lake City officiated the
first gay marriage ceremony in the state in an office building about
three miles from the headquarters of the Mormon church.
The ceremony occurred as dozens of couples were lined up to get marriage licenses.
A federal judge struck down Utah's same-sex marriage ban Friday.
The
Utah attorney general's office has requested an emergency stay to stop
same-sex marriages in the state so they can review the ruling and file
an appeal.
(THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.)
A
federal judge struck down Utah's same-sex marriage ban Friday in a
decision that brings a growing shift toward allowing gay marriage to a
conservative state where the Mormon church has long been against it.
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.
Just
hours earlier, 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.
Ryan
Bruckman, a spokesman for the Utah attorney general's office, said the
office will appeal the ruling and is asking for a stay that would stop
marriage licenses from being issued to same-sex couples in the meantime.
He said attorneys were drafting documents to be filed in court Friday
afternoon.
Meanwhile, dozens of same-sex
couples lined up to get marriage licenses at the Salt Lake County
clerk's office. State Sen. Jim Dabakis, chairman of the Utah Democratic
Party, was there with his longtime partner, Stephen Justesen.
"I waited 27 years," Dabakis said. "We didn't want to get married until we could get married in Utah."
Dabakis
said people were rushing to get marriage licenses, fearing the state
will win a court order blocking them from being issued.
The
ruling in Utah 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.
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.
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 if the state takes 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.
