Emotions run high on a gay-marriage ban

Joan Connolly says the "world is harder" now than it was when her oldest child, now 34, was in grade school.

As she raises her youngest child, who is 12 years old, Connolly is facing new challenges — pornography on the Internet and a general shortage of modest clothing, to name two.

Now, she sees yet another threat to her way of life — the possibility that marriage could be dramatically redefined in Utah. The possibility became very real to Connolly after the Massachusetts Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages and licenses were issued to homosexual couples in California and other states.

That same fear motivated the Utah Legislature this year to place on November's ballot a proposed amendment to the state's constitution that would ban same-sex marriage and snuff out any possibility of civil unions or any other type of legal sanction of a gay couple's relationship.

"I feel like the basic unit of society has got to be a family with a man and a woman, a mom and a dad," said Connolly, a mother of 13 children and grandmother of 15. Otherwise, "my kids and grandkids will grow up in a situation where there are other types of marriages that are not between a man and woman. They'll have to start teaching those things in school.

"People say it won't affect my marriage. In a way, it won't. The general society will be changed."

Opinion polls show the Connollys are in line with the majority of Utah voters, 64 percent of whom said they'd vote for Amendment 3 in the most recent Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll.

Support was strongest among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — 82 percent of those who said they were very active in their church said they'd vote for the amendment.

Connolly, one of six children raised in Salt Lake City, says her faith in the LDS Church shapes her moral ideals, as does her volunteer work at a marriage retreat with her husband, Dean.

The Connollys have also joined in the campaign to counter a well-organized and financed effort to defeat the amendment. The couple hosted their first neighborhood meeting last week to help explain and secure support for Amendment 3.

It worked for Gary and Sharon Howe, who said they left the meeting with an understanding that gay and lesbian couples' civil rights won't be impacted by the amendment, as they've heard from amendment opponents.