Utah to appeal same-sex marriage ruling to Supreme Court

SALT LAKE CITY, July 9 (UPI) -- The state of Utah will appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court for a decision on June's federal appeals ruling ending the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

"The Supreme Court should take this case and swiftly move to end marriage discrimination across the country," Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, urged the courts.

The Supreme Court could decline to hear Utah's appeal, or wait until it's packaged with other state's challenges. But Wolfson hopes the court will hear it sooner and issue a sweeping decision.

"Every day of delay is a day of hardship for couples and their loved ones wrongly denied the freedom to marry and respect for their families."

National Center for Lesbian Rights legal director Shannon Minter echoed this sentiment, telling Politico, "We want this case to move forward to a final resolution as quickly as possible."

"Every day, loving and committed same-sex couples and their families in Utah are being harmed by the continued enforcement of measures that deny them equal dignity, security and protection -- even though both the federal district court and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals have held they violate fundamental constitutional guarantees."

In December 2013 a federal judge ruled Utah's ban on same-sex marriage. The judge refused to issue a stay-pending-appeal and since then 1,300 same-sex couples have wed. The status of those marriages is currently in limbo.

Because the Supreme Court is in recess, the earliest arguments could be heard is fall 2014 with a decision not likely until June 2015.