Nearly 400 people filled the state Capitol rotunda on Friday to tell lawmakers they oppose a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ban same-sex marriages.
A resolution supporting the "Federal Marriage Amendment," co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah and 20 other members of Congress, is being drafted for consideration by the Utah Legislature.
The amendment would define marriage as being between a man and a woman. Under it, state and federal governments would be prevented from conferring marital status "or the legal incidents thereof" to same-sex couples.
"It's not a good idea for Utah. It's not a good idea for the United States," said Michael Mitchell, executive director of Unity Utah, the state's gay and lesbian political action committee.
Mitchell said marriage is a state issue and that voting against the resolution "is not a vote for gay marriage. It's a vote for state's rights." Same-sex marriages are prohibited by all states. Vermont, however, allows same-sex civil unions.
Laws intended to prevent same-sex couples from marrying are not just symbolic, said Laura Millikin Gray, a Salt Lake City attorney who specializes in gay and lesbian family law.
Such laws have economic consequences for those couples, she said. For example, Gray said, some of her elderly clients are unable to collect Social Security and other benefits available to married couples when their partners die.
"These laws hurt us, they hurt our children and they hurt society," Gray said.
Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake, the state's sole openly gay lawmaker, told the crowd "you need to keep pushing." Biskupski said that if the federal amendment were to pass, it would have an "unbelievable" effect.
Earlier Friday, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff announced the state has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a Massachusetts court battle to legalize same-sex marriages there.
Utah wants the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to reject a lawsuit seeking to allow same-sex marriages and, potentially, to require Utah and other states to recognize the unions.
"The argument would be they go there to get married and then they come back here and the state is therefore required to give full faith and credit to that recognition by that state," Shurtleff said.
That's a determination that should be left up to each state, he said, declining to comment on the proposed constitutional amendment.
Utah was joined by Nebraska and South Dakota in filing the brief, even though Shurtleff said he contacted attorneys general in many more states. "I was actually surprised I could only get two other states to join me," he said.
"I think people are nervous about it. Those two are AGs who were leaving office," Shurtleff said. "I've had adviserscautioning me and recommending against me doing it. . . . Some people are concerned I'm going to be seen as gay-bashing."
E-MAIL: lisa@desnews.com