Judge weighs merits of Utah's gay marriage ban

[aGameOfThrones]

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal judge should strike down Utah's same-sex marriage ban because the precedent has been set by the U.S. Supreme Court and discrimination has gone on long enough, an attorney for three gay couples challenging the 2004 voter-passed law argued Wednesday.

During a nearly four-hour hearing in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, lawyer Peggy Tomsic contended marriage is a fundamental right protected by the U.S. Constitution.

"This case embodies the civil rights movement of our time," Tomsic said. "This is the time and this is the place for this court to make it clear that the 14th Amendment is alive and well, even in Utah."

About 100 people packed the courtroom in the city that is home to the Mormon Church, known for its efforts in helping California pass its anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby heard arguments from both sides as he weighed what will be a precedent-setting decision that he hopes to make by early next year.

His ruling would be the first on a state same-sex marriage ban since the Supreme Court last summer struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, which stipulated that marriage was between a man and woman.

Attorneys for the state asserted it is not the courts' role to determine how a state defines marriage, and that the Supreme Court ruling doesn't give same-sex couples the universal right to marry.

View galleryDerek Kitchen, left, and his partner Moudi Sbeity, …
Derek Kitchen, left, and his partner Moudi Sbeity, right, talk with the media outside Frank E. Moss …
They also reinforced the state's argument that Utah has a right to foster a culture of "responsible procreation," and the "optimal mode of child-rearing," which the state believes the law does.

"There is nothing unusual about what Utah is doing here," said Stanford Purser of the Utah Attorney General's Office, objecting to the notion that the law is rooted in bigotry or hatred. "That's the nature of legislation: You draw lines and make designations."

http://news.yahoo.com/judge-weighs-m...000853577.html


Comments from the site:

Only proven facts 25 seconds ago 0 0
Why is the gay male community going to court with philosophy and not proven data? Just show the lab results from the two schools in England that shows a male becomes gay due to bio-chemical changes in the brain while in the womb, at two different points in time of pregnancy, due to a lack of significant specific hormones from the mother, that would affect all males and has nothing to do with DNA or ancestral history. Any judge that is not stupid would realize that taking away a self-aware being's basic rights because of a birth defect would be the same as not giving rights to anyone born with a missing toe. I may not comment on gay females because we do not have any reproducible proof on this subject.

Traditional Marriage 2 minutes ago 1 1
Gays should never be hired by an employer. Why trust the judgment of that employee if they make such a poor lifestyle choice? This is what always happens:
1. The gay slacks off, gets fired, and sues the company for discrimination.
2. The gay screws over the company by defrauding a customer (like the Dayna Morales story)
Stop hiring gays, and they'll die off from being broke

[Brian4Liberty]

Judge weighs merits of Utah's gay marriage ban

Creating multiple gay threads today? You may be obsessed.

[aGameOfThrones]

Creating multiple gay threads today? You may be obsessed.

I said to myself if I should post both or just one, but both deal with the courts.