Utah Legislature Kills Gay Rights Bills

After the bitter electoral fight over Proposition 8 in the 2008 elections an official statement from the Mormon Church said that "[The Mormon Church] does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights."

In response, Equality Utah created the Common Ground Initiative which was a group of bills that would enact these principles into Utah law:

Expanding Health Care-most gay Utahns can not insure their family. Currently, Equality Utah is working to secure an Executive Order, which would extend benefits for State of Utah employees and their adult designees. Since the State of Utah is the state’s largest employer, this is a great start in getting insurance plans to cover all family structures.

Fair Housing & Employment-Right now it is legal in Utah for people to be fired from their jobs or evicted from their homes just because they’re gay or transgender. All Utahns should have the chance to provide for their families and stay in their homes without fear of being unjustly fired or evicted for reasons that have nothing to do with ability to work or pay rent. A Fair Workplace bill was introduced in the 2008 session as HB 89. This year, the Fair Employment portion was added and the bill has been introduced as HB 267.

Wrongful Deaths-The sudden death of a loved one is painful. When someone dies because of the negligence or malpractice of another, we can help families stay in their homes by removing existing barriers to inheritance and insurance. This bill was introduced in the 2007 session as SB 58 and in the 2008 session as SB 73. The bill is SB 32 in the 2009 session. *This bill was defeated in the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 4-2 vote.

Adult Joint Support Declaration- Apart from marriage, we can do much more to help committed couples in Utah care for each other. This bill creates a joint support declaration and will attach rights of inheritance, insurance, and fair housing. This bill's number is HB 160.

Clarifying Amendment 3- A government registry involving inheritance, housing, and insurance is nowhere near the legal equivalent of marriage. But the second part of Amendment 3 has been misinterpreted to prevent any recognition of gay and transgender couples in Utah. This bill would repeal the portion of Amendment 3 which states “no other domestic union, however denominated, may be recognized as marriage or be given the same or substantially equivalent legal effect.” It will not change Utah’s current definition of marriage, which is one man and one woman.

How did the Utah Legislature respond? They killed every single legislative bill they could get their hands on.