Utah Gay Marriage Ban Struck Down

A federal judge deemed Utah’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional Friday. “The state’s current laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens their fundamental right to marry and, in so doing, demean the dignity of these same-sex couples for no rational reason,” U.S. Court Judge Robert J. Shelby wrote in his decision. “It feels unreal,” said Moudi Sbeity, one of the plaintiffs in the state Supreme Court case. The ACLU of Utah’s legal director John Mejia, who filed an amicus brief in the case, said, “We think that it was a discriminatory law that only served to deny loving and committed couples the protection and dignity of marriage.”