Utah Amending Gay-Marriage Ban Problems
By PAUL FOY
Associated Press Writer


SALT LAKE CITY -- After rushing to write a ban on gay marriage into the state constitution, Utah legislators are stepping back to repair some of the damage the law could deal other kinds of domestic partners.

Taken literally, Utah's provision could deny hospital visitation or survivor's property rights to children being brought up by grandparents, or to senior citizens who live together but do not marry for financial reasons. Siblings living in the same household also could find themselves without customary rights.

Utah's Legislature -- overwhelmingly Republican and Mormon, and one of the most conservative bodies in the nation -- ignored warnings from the state's Republican attorney general that the amendment went too far. Utah voters ratified it with 66 percent approval in November.