HRC Delights As Utah Officials Attempt To Regain Footing In Gay Marriage Case

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) on Thursday thanked Utah officials for their help in allowing gay couples to marry.

“@UtahAGoffice from @HRC President Chad Griffin: Thank You!” the nation's largest LGBT rights group tweeted.

Of course, the praise was not sincere. Instead, Griffin was delighting in Utah's blundering of a case challenging the constitutionality of Amendment 3, Utah's 2004 voter-approved amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual unions.

“He's owed our thanks for his general incompetence,” an HRC staffer told BuzzFeed of Utah's acting attorney general Brian Tarbet. “With every fumble, bumble, and delay, even more gay couples get married.”

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby's ruling declaring the state's ban invalid appeared to catch Tarbet off guard. The state failed to file a preemptive stay in the case, allowing Shelby's ruling to take effect immediately.

The state scrambled to block the ruling, but four requests to three judges, including two at the appellate level, were denied.

A planned request to the U.S. Supreme Court was delayed on Thursday as the state announced it would seek outside counsel in the case.

A meme on social media also reveled in Utah's missteps.

A postcard addressed to the Mormon Church states, “Dear Utah, Karma is a bitch. Love, California.”

(Related: Incoming Utah AG vows to take gay marriage fight to Supreme Court.)