NO MORE 'LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT': Same-sex marriage petitions surpass 86,000 signatures

St. George resident Matt Jacobson joined Salt Lake City activist Tim Wagner last Friday to deliver two petitions to the state capitol, urging Governor Herbert to cease the state’s legal fight against gay marriage.
– Photo courtesy of Matt Jacobson

Written by Michael Flynn

When Matt Jacobson first learned that the 2004 Utah law banning gay marriage had been overturned last month, he said he felt ecstatic. Jacobson, who in 2009 travelled to California to marry his longtime partner, said the recognition of his marriage by the state of Utah made him feel like an equal in his home state. At least for a while.

“I was elated for the whole time. I don’t think anything could have brought me down,” Jacobson said. “But then, when they put it on hold – it’s hard to describe. The feeling of being equal and then being unequal again – well, it’s interesting.”

Sophia Jean Hawes Lutrova, who married her partner soon after the ban was lifted, said she felt like something precious and personal had been stolen from her.

“They took one of the happiest moments of my life and turned it into one of sheer frustration,” she said. “We got married because we are deeply in love with each other. As we age, we want to be able to have all of the legal protections that enable us to take care of and provide for each other.”

Last Friday, Jacobson joined Salt Lake City activist Tim Wagner to deliver two petitions comprised of a combined 56,000 signatures on the steps of the State Capital Rotunda. The petitions, posted on moveon.org, demanded that Utah Governor Gary Herbert halt the state’s appeal of Judge Shelby’s ruling – an appeal which has put Jacobson’s and Lutrova’s marriages into what Utah State Attorney General Sean Reyes has termed as a “legal limbo.”

On Monday, Lutrova delivered an additional 30,000 signatures to the rotunda from a petition she had authored on change.org.

“I’m hoping that with enough people responding to this, they will realize that what is written in Amendment 3 is not the will of the people,” Lutrova said.

Sophia Jean Hawes Lutrova (left), pictured here at the Utah State Capitol, is among Utahns who have delivered signed petitions to the capitol calling for a halt of the state’s fight against gay marriage.

Wagner, who is straight, said that after Judge Shelby overturned the amendment, he turned to his wife and jokingly asked her if she felt like their traditional marriage was threatened.

“Gay marriage is not a threat to traditional marriage,” Wagner said. “No one has yet shown how that is even remotely true, because it isn’t.”

Wagner posted his petition after hearing Gov. Herbert describe Shelby as an “activist judge.”

“For the governor to call him that, to me, was quite repulsive,” said Wagner. “He was just following his constitutionally mandated job, as far as what he does, and he just looked at it from a constitutional lens.”

Wagner said he didn’t expect much of a response to the petition, which he posted 15 minutes before going to bed last Friday night.

“When I got up that Saturday morning, there were more than 3,000 signatures. That Saturday night, literally 12 hours later, we had about 30,000,” he said.

“The awareness of this thing continually grows and grows,” he added. “Eighty to 90 percent of the people who signed it are from Utah. There’s far more support for people to have equal rights than what the governor is estimating. It just shows that he is so far out of touch with this issue.”

“What’s important is that people are enabled to have their voices heard,” Lutrova said. “They’re not listening to the voice of the people.”

Jacobson said it isn’t only same-sex couples who are hurt by Utah’s attitude toward marriage equality. Businesses that value gay rights are keeping their distance from Utah, he said, and he knows of many smart and talented Utahns who are leaving the state in droves.

“People who can afford to leave are, and they are the people who have money,” Jacobson said. “Those are taxpayer dollars, and they are leaving the state.”

Jacobson said he thinks it’s time for Utah to grow past the “love it or leave it” attitude.

“Who said that all of us want to leave?” he asked. “Do we want to leave behind our families? Do we want to leave behind our homes? Our Lives? The beautiful scenery that we love?”

“This is our state, too, and they need to get used to it,” he added. “I think it’s up to us, all the people who gathered in the rotunda, the people who signed the petition. We’re not going to let the dominant religion tell us how to live our lives anymore.”