Utah

The Fairness Campaign is opposing Kentucky Senate Bill 68 [sponsored by state Sen. Gary Tapp, R-Shelbyville] that would bar gay and lesbian couples from adopting children.

The AP reports that the measure would allow children to be placed only in adoptive or foster homes with people who "are not cohabiting outside of a marriage that is legally valid in Kentucky."

A spokeswoman for Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. [pictured], said Monday, that Huntsman backs Equality Utah's Common Ground Initiative, a legislative effort that would provide some rights to gay and transgender Utahns. Even more, the Republican governor favors civil unions.

The Salt Lake Tribune says Utah's conservative-moral crusaders - who are brandishing what they call "common sense" to rebuff the push from gay-rights advocates for "common ground" - may be making a common mistake.

Their fears that granting any rights to same-sex couples inevitably leads to legalization of gay marriage are overblown, legal experts say.

The first piece of legislation presented in Equality Utah's Common Ground Initiative, a bill that "would have amended state law so that financial dependents - besides spouses, parents and children - could sue if a breadwinner suffers a wrongful death," was soundly defeated in the Utah Senate judiciary committee yesterday.

A new statewide poll seeking to debunk the gay-Mormon divide shows substantial support - 63 percent - for additional legal protections for gay and transgender people.

And 66 percent of the Utahns polled characterize their religious beliefs as LDS.

Gay-rights activists in Utah will rally at one of the state's important symbols - Delicate Arch.

On Saturday, people plan to gather in view of the treasured redrock formation to rally support for Equality Utah's Common Ground Initiative.

The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting a defeat for lesbian and gay Americans living in Utah. Legislation proposed by Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck (pictured) would have repealed Utah's ban on same-sex couples adopting children.

But reporter Jennifer Francis writes "the bill was closeted in the Rules Committee without a single public hearing".

Rep. Chavez-Houck said: