Federal judge strikes down Utah ban on same-sex marriage

A federal judge Friday struck down a Utah law banning same-sex marriage, ruling gays and lesbians have "a fundamental right to marry." US District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby, ruling in a lawsuit brought by two gay men, said the state law violates their right to equal protection and due process under the U.S. Constitution. "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," Shelby found. "Accordingly, the court finds that these laws are unconstitutional." Moudi Sbeity, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit with his partner, Derek L. Kitchen, told the Salt Lake Tribune he hopes the two can get married "soon, if all goes well and the state doesn't appeal." Shelby wrote in his opinion regulation of marriage has traditionally been left to states, but states are obligated to follow the U.S. Constitution. "The issue the court must address in this case is not who should define marriage, but the narrow question of whether Utah's current definition of marriage is permissible under the Constitution," he wrote. Utah outlawed same-sex marriage in a 2004 referendum supported by 66 percent of those who voted on it. The judge said "the legal issues presented in this lawsuit do not depend on whether Utah's laws were the result of its legislature or a referendum, or whether the laws passed by the widest or smallest of margins."