Bill requires county clerks to provide person to perform same-sex marriages

Bill requires county clerks to provide person to perform same-sex marriages

(Scott G Winterton/Deseret News)


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SALT LAKE CITY — A bill filed Thursday allows state and local government workers to opt out of marrying same-sex couples, but they would lose the right to perform any marriages at all.

SB297 would require county clerks' offices to make someone available to solemnize gay marriages, while accommodating workers who object for religious reasons.

"You can actually discriminate by totally opting out," said bill sponsor Senate Majority Whip Stuart Adams, R-Layton.

The bill also includes protections for individuals, religious officials, religious organizations and government employees regarding religious or deeply held beliefs about marriage, family and sexuality.

"We want to be responsive to them," Adams said. "What we're trying to do is find a balance, and we think we have great opportunity with what we've done."

Adams introduced the bill Thursday, a day after he and Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, filed SB296 attempting to balance religious rights and protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace and housing.

Adams called the two bills "totally independent" of each other.


I am fully in support of Stuart's bill because I think it is a brilliant example of how we can work out these issues.

–Sen. Steve Urquhart


Elected county clerks don't have to perform same-sex marriages under the bill but would have to find someone in or out of the office who would do it. Religious objectors could not be fired for declining that duty.

Adams said that could be a problem in small counties with one or two people in the clerk's office. If they all opted out, the county would have to designate a person such as a pastor willing to solemnize marriages.

Urquhart said the bill provides residents essential services while allowing people to exercise their faith.

"I am true blue in LGBT rights," he said. "I do not want to have even a perception that I am hesitating or taking a half step back, and I am fully in support of Stuart's bill because I think it is a brilliant example of how we can work out these issues."

Urquhart said the conversations about SB297 and SB296 were entirely separate and there's no agreement or quid pro quo. Urquhart said he's "100 percent free" to oppose Adams' legislation but supports it because he wants to.

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SB297 also provides protections for a religious official or a religious organization that declines to solemnize a marriage because of their beliefs. It would prohibit a person or entity from requiring a religious official or organization to provide goods, accommodations, or services in connection with a marriage that is contrary to the official's or the organization's religious beliefs.

The bill prohibits government from taking action against business and professional license holders based on their beliefs.

Adams said it has nothing do with a baker who doesn't want make a cake for a same-sex wedding or public accommodations. He cited as an example a licensed marriage counselor who declines to see certain clients because of the counselor's personal beliefs.

The Sutherland Institute has reservations about SB296, saying it doesn't cover the "ability of people of faith to act on their beliefs related to marriage without fear of retribution."

But it endorses SB297 because it fill the holes in that bill, and taken together offers a broad set of protections, said Bill Duncan, director of Sutherland's Center for Family and Society.

"That's definitely where we want to be. Many in the state are going to like that approach," he said.

The Senate Business and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on SB297 on Friday afternoon.

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