Utah Governor Gary Herbert
Utah Governor Gary Herbert this morning issued a letter (find the letter embedded below) to state agencies directing them how to address the Kitchen v. Herbert ruling late last year that had, for a brief time, permitted gay marriage in Utah. That ruling was stayed by the US Supreme Court.
For those of you who are wondering exactly what a stay is, and I’m enough inaccurate understandings of it that I think there must be a large number of you, a stay is “the postponement or halting of a proceeding, judgement, or the like” and “an order to suspend all or part of a judicial proceeding or judgement resulting from that proceeding.” (Black’s Law Dictionary)
It is not a reversal of that judgment.
The people who got married before the stay came down are still married. Anything they did as a result of their marriage license is still in place. However, in the time since the stay was issued there has been some question about the legal effect of those marriages, and benefits conferred as a result of them.
With the Governor’s order, the current status quo is clarified, but not reversed. Anyone who is married is still married. Anyone who obtained a driver’s license with their new married name still has a drivers license with their new married name. Anyone who filed for, and received, any state conferred benefits reserved for married people still receive and have those benefits.
What they do not have–if they do not fit the definition of a marriage under Utah’s Amendment 3–is the ability to renew those benefits if they run out, apply for anything they have not already applied for, or use that marriage license in any way that they have not already secured prior to the stay.
This is an important distinction and a reasonable response by the Governor as part of his duty to uphold the law as it currently is. While a lot of people may be unhappy with the effect, it should be noted that adherence to the rule of law is crucial for final resolution of this issue, in whose ever side it falls down upon.
Do gay and lesbian couples want the Governor to ignore the ultimate ruling of the US Supreme Court if it ultimately finds that gay marriage should be legal (likely sometime in 2015)? Or do they want him to do what he wants and he and his core constituency wants?
No. They want him to follow the full letter of the law, exactly as they did last month when Judge Shelby found Amendment 3 unconstitutional. They want to see the definition of marriage changed to fit their relationships.
It may be irritating, frustrating, and perhaps, some might argue, unfair and harmful to their families. However, in the long term, it is the process of law that provides them with the most protection, and they must see that even when the process is time consuming and difficult, it is far more fair than relying on the tyranny of popular opinion and the whims of one or two politicians.
Governor Herbert has made the right choice, enforcing the law as it currently is written. Doing so benefits all Utahns, gay and straight alike.
Governor’s Advisory on Same-sex Marriage by Robert Gehrke
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