News that Utah's Republican governor backs civil unions rippled across Utah's Capitol Hill and the nation Tuesday.
Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, announced plans to counter Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s position with a Capitol rally today at 1:30 p.m.
"The governor does not speak for all Utahns," Wimmer said. Indeed, 70 percent of Utahns oppose civil unions, according to a recent Salt Lake Tribune poll.
"He wants to take us down a slippery slope to where essentially marriage is meaningless except for the name," Wimmer added.
But Huntsman, who emphasized Tuesday that he opposes same-sex marriage, received praise from the Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign, a national advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans.
"This is hopeful and inspiring news, and emphasizes the reality that … equality is not a partisan issue," HRC President Joe Solmonese said in a statement. "We're thrilled that Gov. Huntsman recognizes that it's simply the right thing to do to support equality."
Civil unions have been expressly banned in the Utah Constitution since 2004, when voters -- by a 2-1 margin -- approved Amendment 3, defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman.
On Monday, Huntsman's spokeswoman said the governor favors repealing part of that amendment to pave the way for civil unions. On Tuesday, Huntsman reaffirmed that he supports civil unions, but said he doesn't believe Amendment 3 needs to be changed to allow them.
The popular governor -- who cruised to a second and, he says, final term in November -- emphasized his belief in the traditional definition of marriage. "I also believe," he told The Associated Press, "that we can do a better job in enhancing equal rights for more of our citizens."
To that end, Huntsman supports the legal protections for LGBT Utahns that are proposed in Equality Utah's Common Ground Initiative, his spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley told The Tribune . That legislative effort includes one bill that would make it illegal to fire or evict someone for being gay or transgender and another that would afford same-sex couples rights of inheritance and medical decision making.
Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, doubted Huntsman's support would boost the chances of the legislative long shots. But he said Huntsman's backing of civil unions wouldn't hurt the governor's relationship with the Senate.
Huntsman, in a Tribune interview Tuesday, noted he pushed for benefits for same-sex couples after Amendment 3 passed, during his first year in office in 2005. That bill didn't make it out of the Legislature.
"Many of [the rights] paralleled the Common Ground Initiative," Huntsman said. "The debate continues in an environment that is much changed."
University of Utah political scientists Kirk Jowers and Matthew Burbank both were surprised by the timing of the revelation that Huntsman backs civil unions. (Huntsman said Tuesday his office simply was responding to a Tribune question.)
"It doesn't seem like there's a huge amount to be gained by doing so," Burbank said. "It doesn't seem like there's any realistic possibility that [legalizing civil unions] is going to happen in Utah."
Jowers said the endorsement of civil unions shows Huntsman sees himself as "a governor first and a politician second."
"He will come out on issues even though they are not popular with his party or even within his state, but so far people have respected him for that," Jowers said, noting Huntsman's efforts to curb global warming. "The question is whether this issue is so charged it will take some toll on his popularity. It remains to be seen."
About a half-dozen gay-marriage protesters popped up at Huntsman's office Tuesday.
