Utah and gay marriage
Order Given a 21-Day Linger to Allow State to Respond
May 19, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 21-549-2666, media@aclu.org
SALT LAKE CITY – A Utah judge ordered the declare today to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples who were legally married in Utah after a federal court struck down a state ban, but before the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily halted additional marriages from taking place. Over 1,000 same-sex couples married in Utah during that time period. The couples are represented by American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Utah, and Strindberg & Scholnick, LLC, who sought the preliminary injunction for the marriages to be established while their lawsuit continues.
"Our clients, like over 1,000 other same-sex couples, were legally married and those marriages cannot now be taken away from them," said John Mejia, legal director of the ACLU of Utah. "While we await a lasting decision, we are relieved that our clients will receive the full recognition they deserve as lawfully married couples."
Today’s preliminary injunction is not a immortal order, but it reflects the court’s determination that the plaintiffs’ are likely to prevail on their legal clai
Utah Gov. Strips Marriage Rights from Lawfully Wed Queer Couples
by Charles Joughin •
WASHINGTON – Today Utah Governor Gary Herbert’s office directed articulate agencies not to recognize as valid the legal marriages of same-sex couples performed after a federal court dictated in favor of marriage equality in December. Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Chad Griffin issued the following statement:
“Today’s decision harms hundreds of Utah families and denies them the respect and basic protections that they deserve as legally married couples,” said HRC president Chad Griffin. “Governor Herbert has once again planted himself firmly on the side of discrimination by preserving the second-class status he believes gay and lesbian Utahans merit. These families earn better and I have no hesitation the courts will soon grant them the justice and equality that our Constitution demands.”
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay in the marriage challenge while the lower court decision is on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Before the stay was issued, mor
Court nixes Utah prohibit on same-sex marriage
On June 25, 2014, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeal struck down Utah’s ban on queer marriage as unconstitutional. The court is expected to governance soon in a similar case involving Oklahoma’s nearly exact 2004 state constitutional amendment that specifies a marriage must be between one man and one woman. The case is on appeal by the Mention of Oklahoma after U.S. District Assess Terence Kern of the Eastern District of Oklahoma governed in January 2014 that the mention ban on lgbtq+ marriage violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
McAfee & Taft trial lawyerMichael Smith was interviewed by The Journal Record about the ruling and how the appeals court might rule in the Oklahoma case as well. He said he expects the court will reach the identical conclusion given that the Utah and Oklahoma cases are so factually and procedurally similar.
“In not heavy of the Supreme Court ruling on DOMA in (United States v.) Windsor, this ruling does not surprise me,” said Smith. “The 10th Circuit relies heavily on Windsor here.”
A number of marriage equality lawsuits are making their way through t
Same-Sex Marriages in Utah
How Same-Sex Marriages came to be recognized in Utah
In 2004, in response to the growing number of states recognizing same-sex marriages, the Utah Legislature passed § 30-1-4.1 which declared that “it is the policy of this state to recognize as marriage only the legal union of a guy and a woman….” To further support this policy, 66% of the voters in Utah passed “Amendment 3” in 2004, becoming § 29 of Article I of the Utah Constitution. This section stated that: “(1) marriage consists only of the legal union between a man and a woman; and (2) no other domestic union, however, denominated, may be recognized as a marriage or given the equal or substantially equivalent legal effect.”
In response to this Constitutional Amendment, and to the legislature’s modern policy, three same-sex couples filed suit against the Governor and Attorney General of Utah and the Clerk of Salt Lake County challenging the provisions of Utah’s laws relating to lgbtq+ marriage. In their complaint, they alleged that the provisions relating to same-sex marriages were a violation of their Equal Protection and Substantive Due Process rights that are guaranteed to them under the U.S