Gay marriage bans struck down in two US states

Same-sex marriage moved closer to becoming a reality in Utah and Indiana as courts struck down two more state bans on gay matrimony, extending the rapid change on homosexual unions sweeping the US.

For the first time, a regional appeals court overturned a state ban on gay couples marrying when on Wednesday the Court of Appeals for the Denver-based 10th Circuit threw out the ban in Utah, one of the country’s most conservative states. The move came a year after the US Supreme Court upheld certain rights of legally married gay couples.

Utah governor Republican Gary Herbert expressed disappointment with the ruling and the state’s attorney general office indicated it would appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

In Indiana, a federal judge ruled that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage violated the US constitution.

America’s highest court has not yet ruled on the constitutionality of gay marriage but it has gone some way to giving its legal blessing to such unions when last year it struck down part of the Defence of Marriage Act that prevented homosexual spouses from receiving the same federal government benefits as those in heterosexual marriages.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia permit same-sex matrimony, while courts in more than a dozen states have tossed out gay marriage bans since the Supreme Court ruling, though most of these rulings are on hold pending appeals. Bans on same-sex marriage remain in 17 states.