Judicial Wrecking Ball In Utah Gay Marriage Ruling

What does a wrecking ball, Utah and gay marriage have in common? Nothing…. except for some clever wordplay used by the attorneys for Utah in the State’s latest court filing. The wrecking ball reference came in the State’s reply brief submitted to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, just minutes before its midnight deadline Friday. Why exactly does Utah compare the ruling in this case with Miley Cyrus’ song, Wrecking Ball?

To bring you up to speed on the case, Utah enacted a law banning gay marriage. Three same sex couples filed suit challenging the constitutionality of the ban. The Utah state court judge ruled in favor of the couples and held that the ban was unlawfully discriminating against same sex couples who wanted to get married, thereby depriving them of rights enjoyed by couples of the opposite sex.

Back to the potential “wrecking ball” that attorney’s are threatening is being unleashed on the State. Utah is now appealing the decision that struck down it’s law banning same sex marriages. In their latest brief, filed Friday, Utah argues that allowing gay marriage will:

“Unleash an unprincipled judicial wrecking ball hurtling toward an even more important arena of traditional state authority.”

The wrecking ball that Utah is referring to is the damage being done to a state’s right to regulate and define what marriage is within the State boundaries. They articulate several reasons why the state ban should stand, including: fewer and shorter heterosexual marriages; an increase in fatherless and motherless parenting; reduced birth rates and more out-of-wedlock births; less “self-sacrificing” by heterosexual fathers; and increased social strife, the state said. Utah also argues that the decision “would communicate that adult interests are paramount, that neither gender nor biology matter and would de-link procreation from marriage.”

Opponents of the ban counter the wrecking ball argument by pointing out that the ban has “cemented discrimination” in the state against gays and their children. They further argue that the ban “demeans and stigmatizes gay and lesbian couples, denying them the ability to publicly formalize their commitment to each other and excluding them from a host of benefits granted to opposite-sex couples that include virtually every aspect of life, from the mundane to the profound.”

However this case ends up, there is clearly strongly held opinions coming from both sides of the spectrum. Utah claims that is representing the will of the People of the State in defining marriage as between only one man and one woman, and that children are best raised with a father and mother. Opponents contend that denying basic rights to gay and lesbian citizens will one day be viewed as poorly as we now view discrimination based on race or gender.

Only time will tell who is right. But for now, due to the seriousness of this issue, and the many people affected by this ruling, we have to hope that the Utah is not correct – and that allowing same sex marriage will not turn into a wrecking ball that destroys the institution of marriage as we know it.

[Image via George Frey / Getty Images]