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Same-sex marriage bill divides Cody lawmakers - By Mark Heinz

This document was published online on Monday, February 12, 2007

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Cody's three Republican legislators are split in their opinions about a bill that would deny in Wyoming the legitimacy of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

The Wyoming Senate on Jan. 31 passed the bill - Senate File 13 - on a 21-8 vote. The bill is awaiting assignment to a House committee.

Sen. Hank Coe voted in favor of it.

“I'm very traditional. I'm religious about marriage and I think it's between a man and woman,” Coe said.

Rep. Pat Childers said he will oppose the measure if it reaches the House floor.

“I'll flat vote against it, and I'll talk against it,” he said.

“My daughter is gay, and it's as simple as that,” he added. “I've been told she can change her behavior. Get real about this. She was born that way, she wasn't raised in an abusive family.”

Childers said his daughter is grown and lives in another state.

Rep. Colin Simpson said he's undecided, but will probably consider it from a legal angle.

Wyoming does not recognize the creation of common-law marriages within its borders, but will enforce common-law marriages formed in other states, Simpson noted.

“That concerns me a bit, because it (SF 13) could step away from that doctrine,” he said. “When you're trying to ban recognition of same-sex marriage, you could end up also banning recognition of common-law marriage between heterosexuals.”

Massachusetts is the only state that allows same-sex marriages. Several other states allow same-sex civil unions.

Wyoming currently allows neither, and has by state law defined marriage as being only between a man and woman.

Still, all three Cody legislators said there could be room in Wyoming for same-sex civil unions - though it's a separate issue to be tackled at another time.

But Childers worries SF 13 could undermine that as well, and thinks it blurs the line between the religious and civil aspects of unions.

“It's a discrimination bill,” he said. “They want to define marriage as a civil ceremony and a religious ceremony.”

Childers said he has no problem with churches or other faith groups defining marriage as they see fit. But as he sees it, to apply the same definitions to the civil aspect of marriage or unions robs gay people of basic rights.

How marriages or unions are defined will affect such things as whether gay people can visit an ailing partner in the hospital, pass estates on to partners or have access to joint bank accounts, Childers said.

He added that he was taken aback when church groups lobbied him and other legislators to vote for the bill.

“I believe I'm a religious person. But how dare a church step in and try to do something like that,” he said “What happened to the all-encompasing, all forgiving religions? They ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

Simpson said the rights angle also has given him pause.

“I'm struggling with the civil rights aspect of it,” Simpson, a lawyer, said.

“I've done enough divorce law during 20 years to see that unless someone has contractual, legal recognition of a marriage or relationship, they get nothing.”

Coe said he doesn't see the bill as an effort to discriminate. Rather, it's crafted to protect Wyoming's definition of marriage and prevent other states' definitions from being foisted here, he said.

“There's no question we are ‘the equality state' and we pride ourselves on that,” he said.

Even so, Childers said he can't see how the bill wouldn't lead to discrimination.

A native of the South, he said he saw similar discrimination against blacks and mixed-race couples there.

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