Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 16:05:59 -0500 From: David B. O'Donnell To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: UTAH NEWS [ Send all responses to KathyWUT@AOL.COM only. Any responses to the list or list-owners will be returned to you. ] The ban on recognizing same-sex marriages legalized in other states passed last night, with just minute to go in the session. Between 10 p.m. and midnight last night the bill was quickly rushed out of the House rules committee, voted on in the House, sent to Senate rules, brought to the Senate floor and then voted on there. Finally, some numbers on the votes last night in the Utah legislature. (on the ban on recognition of same sex marriage. In the House, the vote was 62 to 1 with 12 absent (7 Democrats, 5 Republicans) Rep Steve Barth of Salt Lake was the lone dissenting vote. In the Senate, a vote taken around midnight, was 27-1-1. Sen Blaze Wharton, who has a long record of supporting gay rights, walked out and abstained from voting, Sen Bob Steiner of Salt Lake was the lone dissenting vote. These vote counts mean that some long time supporters of our issues and rights voted against us, but we understand it was a political, survival decision. All or most of our friends on the hill are Democrats and they are heavily out-gunned up there and a yay vote on this bill might have cost some of them their seats in the legislature, yet their votes wouldn't have kept the bill from passing. Where to from here; GLUD, Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats, is going to: Try to talk Gov Mike Leavitt into vetoing the bill. (there isn't any hope of that, but they have to make the effort.) Talk to the Attorney General about the legality of last night's vote because they (GLUD) think the vote was actually taken just after midnight, which would supposedly make it invalid. If neither of those things succeed, a campaign to keep the winter olympics out of Utah will begin, probably called Olympics Out of Utah, a takeoff on the name of the successful Olympics Out of Cobb County effort in Georgia. A theme for the campaign may be "The World isn't Welcome Here" because the theme of the Utah Olympic Bid Committee is "The World is Welcome Here." Chris Ryan of the Utah Log Cabin Club says that Log Cabin will not be supporting the efforts to keep the Olympics out of Utah over this bill. Several radio stations in Salt Lake have been discussing the passage of HB 366 this morning, including the Mormon church-owned KSL radio (the Bob Lee show), which discussed the topic for two hours this morning. Bob Lee was insisting that the discussion focus on whether the passage of the bill was going to throw a wrench into Utah's chances for getting the Olympics. Several national publications have called . . . the story is going to get us a lot of press and a lot of chances for discussion and education. The address for the International Olympic Committee: Chateau de Vidy, Ch-1007 Lausanne, Switzerland Phone: (don't dial "1") 011-4121-621-6111 fax; 011-4121-624-1552 the US Olympic Committee: Pres. LeRoy Walker voice: (919) 361-2355 fax: 919-361-2788. Questions? Feel free to call me at 801-288-9294. Kathy Worthington, Editor of the Womyn's Community News, SLC Also, see my posts in the Gay Marriage folder in the Gay and Lesbian Community Forum on America On Line.