US: Utah Senator disagrees with senior colleague that ‘same-sex marriage is inevitable’

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The junior US Senator for the US state of Utah has disagreed with a statement given by his senior colleague who said same-sex marriage across the US is inevitable.

Senior Utah Senator Orrin Hatch gave a radio interview, and despite being opposed to same-sex marriage, said if anyone did not realise it will soon be available to all US couples, they had not been paying attention to recent news.

Junior Senator and fellow Republican Mike Lee responded to say he did not think it was necessarily inevitable.

He said: “What I do know is that it’s wrong for these decisions to be made by federal judges.”

Lee also compared the federal government to Godzilla in its handling of issues around religious freedom.

“Sometimes government steps on religious liberty, perhaps inadvertently, but it does so just because government’s big,” he said.

Lee said states should be able to make decisions, rather than courts.

“That’s where those decisions need to be made. They shouldn’t be thrust upon the states by federal judges who aren’t elected. They’re not accountable to anyone who is elected,” he continued.

Same-sex marriages were briefly allowed in Utah in December, but were halted when the state appealed, putting the ban temporarily back in place.

Earlier this month, the 10th Circuit Appeals Court found that the state must recognise the marriages carried out while same-sex marriage was legal.

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