Lots Of Great News From Utah

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In a stunningly dramatic new poll, Utah residents say they are evenly split on both same-sex marriage and adoption. The Salt Lake Tribune poll finds 48 percent of Utahans support the right of same-sex couples to marry, and 48 percent do not. 45 percent support the right of married same-sex couples to adopt children, and 45 percent do not.

Salt Lake City is home the the Mormon (LDS) Church, but it is surprising that a whopping 76 percent of non-Mormons in the Beehive State support marriage equality. What might surprise some is that almost one third (32 percent) of Mormons do support legal, civil marriage for same-sex couples.

Photos: Thousands Flood State House Demanding Utah Governor Drop Same-Sex Marriage Appeal

Also surprising: almost three-quarters (72 percent) of all Utah residents support the right of same-sex couples to form legal civil unions of domestic partnerships.

“The results reflect a remarkable turn since 66 percent of Utahns who participated in the 2004 general election approved Amendment 3, which limited civil marriage to a man and a woman and barred any state recognition of other relationships such as civil unions or domestic partnerships,” the Tribune reports.

Also in Utah this week, the state Tax Commission has announced that legally married same-sex couples will be allowed to file joint tax returns.

No other state benefits will be afforded to same-sex couples, per Republican governor Gary Herbert’s order.

Actor George Takei actually has a question for Utah residents: “Why is your Governor Gary Herbert so mean?” Takei asks. “Your governor seems to believe in governing by hysteria.”

A federal judge found Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional last month, but the Supreme Court put that ruling on hold, after 1360 couples had already been married. The Obama Administration decided to recognize those same-sex marriages at the federal level, and now at least those couples will have one less headache come Tax Day.

And if that weren’t enough good news, here’s one more tidbit.

The Utah Attorney General’s office was forced to ask the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals for a ten-day extension because they weren’t able to prepare a “fulsome, detailed and quality” brief for their appeal of a federal ruling that found the state’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

And finally, The Advocate has a nice profile of Seth Anderson and Michael Ferguson, the first (one of the first?) same-sex couple to marry in Utah.

 

Previously:

Watch: Attorney General Eric Holder Explains Decision To Recognize Utah Marriages

Human Rights Campaign Asks Marriage Equality States To Recognize Utah Marriages

The ACLU Strikes Back – Will Sue To Preserve Utah’s Same-Sex Marriages