Gay marriages proceed in Utah as judge refuses to block ruling

By way of Jennifer Dobner SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) – Similar-sex marriages were allowed to proceed in Utah after a federal choose on Monday refused to block his personal ruling making homosexual marriage legal within the state. U.S. District Decide Robert Shelby, who ruled closing week that Utah's ban on similar-intercourse marriage violated the rights of homosexual couples to due course of and equal safety under the U.S. Constitution, mentioned the state had not met the prison standards required for him to issue a stay towards his ruling. Utah Governor Gary Herbert has already filed a proper discover signaling he would appeal the ruling, even as about 900 couples lined up in the cold early on Monday to acquire marriage licenses from the county clerk's workplace in Salt Lake City. First in line were Sarah Friese, 31, and her companion, Veronica Christensen, 32, who had been waiting within the cold due to the fact that Sunday evening for the constructing to open so they could get a wedding license.