Gay-rights activists hope to build a bridge to their fellow Utahns before the state's most iconic span: Delicate Arch.

On Saturday, more than 60 people plan to gather in view of the redrock wonder to rally support for Equality Utah's Common Ground Initiative.

The effort is a collection of five bills, aimed at the upcoming legislative session, that would provide legal protections to same-sex couples, such as hospital visitation and inheritance rights, and forbid discrimination against gay and transgender people in employment and housing. Equality Utah also is lobbying leaders to extend health-insurance benefits to the domestic partners of state employees.

Delicate Arch is "an important symbol for all Utahns," said organizer Michael Mueller, founder of the Facebook community Utahns for Marriage Equality. "We're all Utahns first -- gay, straight, whatever."

Mueller, who is straight and married, said, "There are certain rights that all people should have."

Participants will gather in the Delicate Arch parking lot at Arches National Park near Moab from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and then walk to a viewpoint for a rally. The group skipped a march to the arch itself because ice makes the trail dangerous during the winter.

Speakers will include Salt Lake City Democratic Rep. Christine Johnson, who is sponsoring a Common Ground bill; Claudia Bradshaw, founder of the St. George chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays); and Matthew Landis, a Salt Lake City hairstylist and activist.

Landis, who is gay and grew up in Grantsville, said holding a demonstration near Moab is appropriate because equality for gay and transgender people affects all Utahns -- whether in big cities or small towns.

"People think [gay rights is] just a Salt Lake thing, or it's a San Francisco thing," Landis said. "It's a human-being thing."

The National Park Service has issued a First Amendment permit to the group that allows attendees to enter the park for free on Saturday starting at noon. The park does not allow protesters to use bullhorns or other amplified sound, but does permit signs and banners, provided they are hand-held.

"We try to make it as easy for people to exercise their constitutional rights as we can," said Arches spokesman Paul Henderson. The park handles "very few" requests for rallies, he noted, making Saturday's the first in a couple of years.

rwinters@sltrib.com