Thirty-eight thousand people have signed an online petition supporting Friday’s court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in Utah.
Tim Wagner says he initiated the petition called “Let it Stand, Governor” after Utah Governor Gary Herbert referred to U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby as an “activist judge” for declaring the state’s ban on same sex marriage unconstitutional and directed the Attorney General’s office to request a stay of the ruling. He says he wants to show Governor Herbert that there is a tremendous amount of support for the ruling.
“And that any attempt to turn that over is just really going against the rising tide across the country,” Wagner said. “Public opinion is finally starting to take hold that there is nothing wrong with people in same-sex relationships and how that’s potentially impacting someone else’ heterosexual lifestyle—that’s not even possible.”
Wagner says he was also reacting to a petition generated by the conservative Sutherland Institute. The organization is gathering signatures from those who support traditional marriage, noting Utah’s amendment 3, which banned gay marriage passed in 2004 with 66 percent of the vote. It’s unclear how many signatures Sutherland Institute has gathered for its petition.
Wagner says about three quarters of the people who have signed his petition actually live Utah. He says it will remain open through the holidays and he will deliver it to Governor Herbert sometime after January 1st.
