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Federal judge strikes down same sex marriage ban in Utah. That's right, Utah!

Gay married in Utah! Photo courtesy of Reddit.

Courtesy of The Salt Lake Tribune:

A federal judge in Utah on Friday struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, saying the U.S. Constitution offers the same equal protection and due process rights to same-sex individuals to marry the person of their choice that it gives heterosexual individuals.

"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," wrote U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby in the 53-page decision. "Accordingly, the court finds that these laws are unconstitutional."

In the ruling, Shelby enjoined the state from enforcing two different statutes that ban same-sex marriage as well as Amendment 3 to the state’s constitution, approved by Utah voters in 2004.

As news of the ruling broke, hundreds of people descended on county clerk offices around the state to request marriage licenses. At the Salt Lake County Clerk’s Office, a First Baptist pastor was on hand to conduct wedding ceremonies. Michael Ferguson, 32, and Seth Anderson, 31 were the first same-sex couple to receive a license there and be married.

I was amazed to learn the other day that same sex marriage is now legal in 17 states. Seventeen!

I had apparently lost track of how much progress was being made on this issue, but now that I know I am very excited about the future.

Let's face it, if this can happen in Utah it can, and will, happen everywhere.

So good to be on the right side of history, don't you think?

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