SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal judge has struck down Utah's same-sex marriage ban, saying it is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby issued a 53-page ruling Friday 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 says the state failed to show that allowing same-sex marriages would affect opposite-sex marriages in any way, and the state's unsupported fears and speculations are insufficient to justify deny allowing same-sex marriages.
Attorneys for the state argued that Utah's law promotes the state's interest in "responsible procreation" and the "optimal mode of child-rearing."
The lawsuit was brought by three gay and lesbian couples in Utah.
Many similar court challenges are pending in other states, but Utah's 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.
Shelby says the state failed to show that allowing same-sex marriages would affect opposite-sex marriages in any way
Kind of hard to show something that doesn't exist... isn't it?
Same-sex marriage has absolutely ZERO effect on opposite-sex relationships. Even those opposite-married people opposed to it can recognize that what any other people (gay OR straight) OUTSIDE their marriage do doesn't affect their own marriage.
-- Edited by RichardInTN on Friday 20th of December 2013 08:23:49 PM
__________________
"Yabba Dabba Doo" - Frederick J. Flintstone... So what?
(Judd Nelson as Atty. Robin 'Stormy' Weathers in "From the Hip")