Walker is undecided on gay-marriage ban

Gov. Olene Walker said Thursday she hasn't decided yet whether to vote for — or against — a controversial amendment to the state constitution that would ban gay marriage.

"I'll make that decision when I get to the voting booth," the governor said during her monthly televised news conference broadcast on KUED Channel 7. Walker stopped short of opposing Amendment 3 but raised questions about the impact of its second part.

That part forbids granting "the same or substantially equivalent legal effect" as marriages to other relationships. Earlier this month, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said the amendment was "a bad law and should be rejected" because it "goes too far."

The governor, who, like Shurtleff, is a Republican opposed to gay marriage, said she still has to decide whether her belief in the definition of marriage as being between a man and a women outweighs the "complex issues" raised by the second part of the amendment.

"You have to look at that and understand there probably will be fallout. There probably will be a lot of legal issues," Walker said. She urged citizens "to study and analyze it and make their own decision."

The governor's comments were hailed by Scott McCoy, head of the "Don't Amend" campaign to defeat the amendment.

"Her voice is just another voice in the growing chorus that is raising concerns and red flags, and saying maybe we should be more careful when we're looking to amend our constitution," McCoy said.

He said by raising questions, Walker is helping the public to see that "this amendment isn't just a simple definition of marriage, as the other side is trying to lead people to believe. It is actually much more involved."

Walker said she would have preferred simpler language, but as governor, had no role in drafting the proposed amendment. She also said the proposed change should have been reviewed by the state's Constitutional Revision Commission.

But one of the legislative co-sponsors of the amendment, Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, said the language was thoroughly debated by lawmakers who "made sure it carefully and adequately reinforces marriage and doesn't deny rights to others, as is falsely alleged."

Christensen said if the governor looks at the amendment closely, "she'll find, as everybody else has found, that it's a simple and succinct summary of sound public policy consistent with Utah's values."

Also at Thursday's news conference, the governor said her three-day trade mission to Mexico was "remarkably successful." Meetings with business leaders and tourism officials were held in Veracruz, and Walker also met with a cabinet official in Mexico City.

Several companies that accompanied her on the trip stayed behind to conduct additional business, she said, including Sorenson Genomics, a Salt Lake City laboratory that is collecting DNA samples from a remote tribal village to expand its genetic database.

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