When questioned by McCoy as to whether a family pass at a city skating rink would violate Amendment 3, Christensen replied simply that SB267 wouldn't deny access to public facilities.

Christensen also alluded to a state law that doesn't allow cohabitating couples to adopt. A House bill to repeal that law, so that unmarried gay and straight couples would be able to adopt and be foster parents, hasn't been allowed to go to hearing yet.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said he had not yet read SB267, and it has not been discussed in the closed GOP caucus. But he said the Senate will consider the question of constitutionality.

Valentine said there may well be problems with the city's proposal "if, in fact, it is encouraging or other recognizing a status that is not recognized in the Constitution, then it would be unconstitutional because of Amendment 3."

The line between what is constitutional and what is not, the Senate leader said, "is if it is doing things that are prohibited by Amendment 3 in terms of recognizing marital rights as between a man and a woman."

He said there may be a way to allow others, such as a parent and a child, to register their relationship with local government.

"They would have to be careful in the drafting," Valentine said, and avoid including same-sex couples "or a polygamous relationship or a bigamist relationship or something else that is otherwise prohibited by law or in the Constitution."

The bill was substituted to keep Salt Lake's existing policy allowing city employees to choose an adult designee for benefits. However, city officials questioned whether the changes were enough.

"It is striking an appropriate balance between health care benefits to adult designees without overlapping, or creating something that could interfere with marriage," Christensen said.

McCoy, who was absent from Monday's vote, said, "I would just ask (senators) to actually judge each piece of legislation on its merits ... rather than engage in this paranoid idea there is some sort of grand conspiracy under foot."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com