Gay rights bill gets committee approval

A proposal that would allow financially dependent gay couples to sue in the event of a wrongful death has won support from a legislative committee.

The only openly gay member of the Senate, Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City, is sponsoring a bill that would allow people in financially dependent relationships — whether related or not — to appeal to a judge for compensation if one person dies and it's someone else's fault.

Currently, only the victim's spouse, parents or children can sue.

Several family values groups are decrying the measure as an effort to legalize gay marriage, which is banned in the state constitution.

Gayle Ruzicka, president of the conservative Eagle Forum, said if the Legislature ends up approving McCoy's bill, courts could decide that Utah has effectively extended the rights of marriage to gay couples and overrule the state's constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

"Recently in California the Supreme Court overturned a law that the people had voted for," she said. "One of the reasons (why) is the legislature had passed so many laws giving same sex relationships the same benefits of marriage. ... This is just the same thing that is happening here."

The legislation approved by the committee Wednesday is part of a package of bills advocating more rights for gays. But McCoy says his bill would also apply to people in other relationships, such as a grandmother who is financially dependent on her granddaughter, and so has nothing to do with gay marriage.

Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, agreed.

"I can look at my constituents who are not in favor of gay marriage (and tell them) that this does nothing to undermine traditional marriage," he said.

Gay rights groups hailed the Republican-controlled committee's approval as a victory for compassion.

"I'm very happy," said Will Carlson, public policy director of the gay rights advocacy group Equality Utah. "This is about common ground. This isn't about marriage. This is about taking care of people. ... There's been a lot of talk about Utah being a 'hate state.' I think this shows while Utah has a clear position on marriage, (Utahns) want to take care of each other."

Under McCoy's bill, qualifying as someone who can file a wrongful death lawsuit would require the person to be designated as the sole wrongful death heir in the decedent's will.

After that, to qualify the person would have to prove that they had been living together, had been designated as the beneficiary of retirement benefits, a health insurance policy or will and that both people shared assets and liabilities.