Idaho Same Sex Marriage Ban Takes Center Stage

Seventeen states now recognize same sex marriage as legal by court decision, state legislature or popular votes.  Idaho is NOT among those states, but the state's ban on same sex marriage takes center stage today as the case of four couples suing Governor Butch Otter moves into Idaho federal court.

Two of the four couples suing Otter are asking the state to grant them marriage licenses, while the other two just want the state to recognize their out of state marriage licenses.  The couples were advised not to talk to media ahead of today's opening statements. In the court documents, Governor Otter says that the current ban on same sex marriage in the Gem state is vital to the state's goal of creating "stable, husband-wife unions for the benefit of their children."