Sponsor abandons Amendment 3 resolution

A long-shot resolution aimed at changing Utah's marriage amendment has been abandoned.

Hoping to help clear the way for other bills in the Common Ground Initiative, Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake, pulled HJR2 Tuesday.

The legislation sought to eliminate Amendment 3's second clause, which prohibits any domestic union other than marriage to be recognized or given similar legal rights as marriage.

"I believe the second clause of Amendment 3 has been misconstrued by many and will continue to be a stumbling block for reasonable policies in the future," Biskupski, the resolution's sponsor, said in a news release. "However, I believe that the other Common Ground bills have broader support and cannot be construed as having anything to do with marriage."

Opponents of Equality Utah's legislative efforts have said the bills either violate Amendment 3 or seek to ultimately undermine the state's definition of marriage.

"If we give unmarried people marriage-type rights, then we're basically saying it's OK," said Gayle Ruzicka, who has led the fight against the Common Ground bills along with Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, former Utah Rep. LaVar Christensen and the conservative Sutherland Institute. "We're not going to fall into that trap."

Will Carlson, Equality Utah's public policy manager, said he hoped the decision to pull the resolution would help alleviate those concerns.

"It's an act of good faith," Carlson said. "We want to get away from the marriage debate so we can focus on the issues at hand."

Lynn Wardle, who helped draft Amendment 3, called abandoning the resolution a "realistic decision" and a politically savvy move.

"I don't think it would have gotten anywhere with the Legislature or the voters," said Wardle, a family law professor at Brigham Young University's law school. "The withdrawal of that resolution is a smart move. It does leave bills where there might be some common ground to explore."

In its current state, Amendment 3 protects the "traditional family" while allowing room for some rights — including wrongful-death benefits, hospital visitation and some housing rights — to be extended to gay, lesbian and transgender Utahns, Wardle said.

"Those rights individually or together don't even approximate the scope of the bundle of rights given to marriage," he said. "If you keep doing that for 10 years, five to 10 more benefits every year, might you reach the point where you've violated the constitution? That's possible.