A federal appeals court on Wednesday
affirmed a lower court's ruling striking down Utah's ban on gay
marriage.
A three-judge panel of the Tenth
Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver declared Utah's ban
unconstitutional in a 112-page ruling.
The ruling reads in part: “Last year
the [Supreme Court] entertained the federal aspect of the issue in
striking down [section 3] of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) …
yet left open the question presented to us now in full bloom: May a
State of the Union constitutionally deny a citizen the benefit or
protection of the laws of the State based solely upon the sex of the
person that citizen chooses to marry?”
“Having heard and carefully
considered the argument of the litigants, we conclude that,
consistent with the United States Constitution, the State of Utah may
not do so. We hold that the Fourteenth Amendment protects the
fundamental right to marry, establish a family, raise children, and
enjoy the full protection of a state's marital laws. A state may not
deny the issuance of a marriage license to two persons, or refuse to
recognize their marriage, based solely upon the sex of the persons in
the marriage union.”
In 2008, Utah voters approved Amendment
3, an amendment to the state's constitution defining marriage as a
heterosexual union.
The case, heard by the appeals court in
April, was the first to reach the appellate level since the Supreme
Court struck down DOMA last year. An appeal in a similar case
striking down Oklahoma's ban is still before the court.