Court denies request to halt weddings

Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that gay marriages can continue in Utah, denying a request from the state to halt same-sex weddings until the appeals process plays out.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the state’s request for an emergency stay on a federal judge’s ruling that found Utah’s same-sex marriage ban violates gay and lesbian couples’ rights.

The judge who made that ruling, U.S. District Judge Richard Shelby, refused the state’s first request to put a halt to the marriages Monday.

Utah’s last chance to temporarily stop the marriages would be the U.S. Supreme Court.

The appeals court ruling means county clerks can continue to issue marriage licenses to gays and lesbians. Nearly 700 gay couples have obtained marriage licenses since Friday, with most coming in the state’s most populous county.

Utah is the 18th state where gay couples can wed, and the sight of same-sex marriages occurring just a few miles from the headquarters of the Mormon church has provoked anger among the state’s top leaders.

“Until the final word has been spoken by this court or the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of Utah’s marriage laws, Utah should not be required to enforce Judge Shelby’s view of a new and fundamentally different definition of marriage,” the state said in a motion to the appeals court.

Judge Shelby’s decision to strike down a law passed by voters in 2004 drew attention given Utah’s long-standing opposition to gay marriage and its position as headquarters for the Mormon church.

It’s estimated that nearly two-thirds of Utah’s 2.8 million residents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Mormons dominate the state’s legal and political circles.

The Mormon church was one of the leading forces behind California’s short-lived ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8, which voters approved in 2008.