From Deseret News archives:
Amendment 3 foes say gays and their children need legal protections
In short, she says, she can't defend her family with a simple legal document that automatically affords more than 1,000 legal protections and responsibilities a marriage license.
Hutchinson and other gay and lesbian couples say it could get worse after the Nov. 2 election. That's why the couple is working overtime to convince voters that Amendment 3, a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in Utah, would further solidify the state's discrimination against their family.
"I don't have any rights," Johnson said. "This doesn't take away my rights because I have no rights as a lesbian. . . . Right now we're not a (legal) family; we're roommates with a child."
The couple can piecemeal together some legal protections such as a will, powers of attorney or hospital visitation rights. But they and other opponents to the proposed amendment say it threatens even those existing protections.
"All it takes is one blood relative," Hutchinson notes, to challenge a will or other legal contract she and her partner have entered into.
They're among an estimated 2,568 with children, headed by same-sex unmarried partners in Utah, according to an analysis of the 2000 Census Public Use Microdata Sample by Pam Perlich, senior research economist at the University of Utah Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
The sample data suggested that some 66 percent of the roughly 3,912 same-sex partner-headed households are raising children.
Children in these families are particularly vulnerable when it comes to their parents' divorce or death, because Utah's adoption law only allows married couples and single adults to adopt, said attorney Jane Marquardt, a board member of Equality Utah.
Johnson's daughter, Olivia White, a seventh-grader in the West High School honors program, knows she's vulnerable. And she's just as outspoken an advocate for her family as are her moms. She's speaking out wherever the opportunity presents itself at school, at TRAX stations, even door-to-door.
"I think it's really important that kids my age know how it affects people," White said.
Comments
- A Capitol that'd foil Langdon 11:16 p.m.
- Yemen rebels: Saudis bombarding 11:15 p.m.
- Dominoes a tribute to fall of Wall 11:15 p.m.
- World datelines 11:14 p.m.
- Foreign advice angers Afghans 11:13 p.m.
- Birthdays for Sunday, Nov. 8 11:13 p.m.
- Strand of Elvis' hair -$415 11:12 p.m.
- Wide runs his way into record book 11:11 p.m.
- Hopper calls treatment promising 11:11 p.m.
- Devils remain hot on road ice 11:10 p.m.
- Gay advocates trek to LDS office
207 - Dirk does dirty work in Dallas
190 - Letters: Care not a right
190 - Lobo suspended
171 - Speed has never been BYU's game
136 - Cougars crush hapless Cowboys
122 - RSL rallies to advance
102 - Prep football: San Juan vs. S. Sevier
102 - Thousands protest health bill
99 - Provo company innovating engines
98
Why do so many people live so close to refineries in Utah and elsewhere?
NASA's Stardust probe continues to bring new knowledge about the nature...
Jazz vs Denver Denver’s PGs 44 pts Loss Jazz vs Clippers...
He will be missed, I personally found his hinge for the Chop-Sticks very...
re: Free money for all! I wonder why we've never realized before we can spend...
@ D Will Great offensive game and stats. You will need to pick it up on...
Hopes and dreams said, I can't take Utah Man serious. --Anonymous
has any one figured out what the FEMALE was doing in the police car with...
I guess I can vote for the man again.
I don't know why conservatives don't trust Obama that healthcare will be...
It's good to know that we have representatives who I can feel good about...
So much for by the people and for the people.



You can be the first to comment on this story.