Utah Marriage Fight Could Head to the Supreme Court

Hundreds of supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage held rallies at Utah's State Capitol Tuesday.

Lawmakers will soon take action on a new bill after a federal judge ruled the state's voter-approved law banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

Kody Partridge, who has a same-sex spouse, said she believes the climate for homosexual marriage is changing.

"We believe the world has evolved and is bending toward justice," she said.

But traditional marriage supporters, such as Doug Mainwaring, who left his gay partner and returned to his wife, say the movement for same-sex marriage will undo marriage and confuse children.

"My fear is if we redefine marriage, we won't be redefining it, we'll be un-defining it," Mainwaring said. "So it will unravel and the children's roles will unravel and their rights will unravel as well."

More than a thousand same-sex couples married in Utah after the judge overturned the ban.

Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, said Utah has taken center stage in the fight over marriage and how it's decided.

"Activist judges now feel no qualms in simply putting forward their opinion as the law," Brown said. "The people of Utah voted on this."' 

The state has appealed the federal judge's ruling to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals in Denver, and the case could ultimately end up in the hands of the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, supporters of homosexual marriage have called on Utah legislators to approve a statewide ban on discrimination based on sexual identity or orientation.