Utah State Rep. Kraig Powell, a
Republican, has proposed repealing Utah's gay marriage ban from the
state constitution.
Powell told Fox 13 that he is drafting
a constitutional amendment that would do just that.
“My proposal is simply to remove that
from the Utah Constitution so that it is no longer on the books,”
Powell
said.
Gay and lesbian couples began
exchanging vows in Utah in 2014 after the Tenth Circuit Court of
Appeals in Denver declared unconstitutional Amendment 3, the state's
2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment defining marriage as a
heterosexual union. The Supreme Court in a separate case would later
hold that gay couples have a constitutional right to marry.
Powell added that he's working on
legislation that would replace “husband” and “wife” in state
code with “spouse.”
“The intent of the bills is to make
sure Utah law as it is right now reflects what the courts have said
is the reality of national law that we're mandated to obey,” Powell
said. “I believe the legislature needs to speak on these issues
because, even though we've received a broad, general ruling from the
United States Supreme Court, how that is interpreted in individual
sentences within the code is still yet to be determined.”
Troy Williams, executive director of
Equality Utah, said that it was “right and proper for Amendment 3
to be struck from Utah law once and for all.”