Date: Sat, 18 Feb 1995 18:02:13 -0500 From: DavidN1327@aol.com NEWS RELEASE Saturday, February 19, 1995 Contact: Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats Post Office Box 11311 Salt Lake City, Utah 84147-0311 (801)238-2526 metropolitan Salt Lake City telephone number (800)648-9996 national toll-free telephone number Internet: glud@aol.com Tear sheet requested a000 rp ^BC-Gay,268< GLUD to testify against Utah marriage bill SALT LAKE CITY - The controversial bill H.B. 366, "Recognition of Marriages," which is being considered at the Utah Legislature which would ban the recognition of same-sex marriages which are performed outside the state is scheduled for its first public hearing in the state House of Representatives Energy, Natural Resources and Agriculture Standing Committee at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 20 in room 403 of the Utah Capitol Building. Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats leaders are planning to testify against the bill. They say the bill is discriminatory and would adversely affect the state's business and tourism, and its 2002 Winter Olympics bid. "The arguments for this bill are the same as those that supported the state's law against interracial marriages which was repealed in 1963," GLUD Founder David Nelson said. "That kind of discrimination is likely to provoke the kind of reaction against Utah as happened in Colorado when voters in that state adopted a homophobic ballot initiative in 1993, and in Cobb County, Ga., when county commissioners adopted a homophobic resolution in 1994." A yearlong effort to boycott Colorado cost that state more than $120 million in business and tourism, while Cobb County, Ga., lost its chance to host the 1996 Summer Olympics volleyball competition. Utah law prohibits same-sex marriages from being performed in the state but recognizes marriages which are performed in other states and countries. Same-sex marriages are legal in Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, but aren't legal in any state of the United States. The Hawaii Supreme Court is expected to decide this year that same-sex marriages are legal in that state. Other states may be required to recognize such marriages.