As Utah celebrates the 164th anniversary on Sunday of the arrival of Mormon pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley, the state of New York marks its first day honoring same-sex marriages. More than 800 gay and lesbian couples have signed up to be married in New York City on Utah’s Pioneer Day.
Among them are at least two couples with Utah ties: former Utah Sen. Scott McCoy and his partner, Mark Barr, who moved to New York in June; and Salt Lake City theater artists Jerry Rapier and Kirt Bateman. (Click on their names to read their LGBT FYI wedding announcements.)
New York City set up a lottery to dole out a limited number of slots for weddings on Sunday. But in the end, officials were able to accommodate all of the couples — 823 — by asking some to go to clerk’s offices in boroughs outside of Manhattan, the New York Times reports.
Utahns, who adopted a constitutional ban on same-sex unions in 2004, have long been overwhelmingly opposed to gay marriage. A new poll by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling finds that 27 percent of Utah voters think that same-sex marriage should be legal compared with 66 percent who think it should be illegal.
But, in step with a national trend, young adults in Utah are more likely to favor gay marriage. Among those ages 18 to 29, 42 percent support gay marriage and 39 percent are against it.
