US court denies stay of same-sex marriage ruling in Utah

A U.S. appeals court denied a motion by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert to issue a stay of a court ruling that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. The Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit denied the motion in a ruling late Sunday, KSTU-TV, Salt Lake City, reported. State officials "acknowledge that they have not addressed, let alone satisfied, the factors that must be established to be entitled to a stay pending appeal," the court said. U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby ruled Friday in a lawsuit brought by two gay men that Utah 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." Shelby scheduled a hearing Monday on the state's request to halt same-sex marriages, which began Friday after Shelby's ruling and continued Saturday in what one witness called "a madhouse." The state Attorney General's Office filed the appeal shortly after Shelby's ruling Friday. Herbert, a Republican, promised to "defend traditional marriage within the borders of Utah." "I am very disappointed an activist federal judge is attempting to override the will of the people of Utah," he said. 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."