UTAH: Plaintiffs Slam "Misleading" Regnerus Study In Brief To Tenth Circuit

Via press release from the National Center for Lesbian Rights:

Late Tuesday, attorneys for three couples challenging Utah’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples filed a brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, urging the court to uphold a lower court’s December 2013 decision finding the ban unconstitutional. On December 20, 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby ruled that Utah’s laws denying same-sex couples the freedom to marry violate the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process of law. That decision is now on appeal before the Tenth Circuit. The State of Utah filed its opening brief in that court on February 3, 2013, arguing that Utah’s marriage ban was justified based on Utah’s interest in giving heterosexual couples “privileged and special status” because they are able to procreate biologically. In the brief filed with the Tenth Circuit last night, the three Utah couples argued that the Constitution requires Utah to treat all families fairly and to ensure that all children, including those being raised by same-sex parents, are equally protected. The case, Kitchen v. Herbert, was brought by Utah couples Derek Kitchen and Moudi Sbeity; Laurie Wood and Kody Partridge; and Karen Archer and Kate Call. The couples are represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the law firm of Magleby & Greenwood, P.C.

Read the full brief here. An excerpt:

With respect to the studies authored by Mark Regnerus, Aplt. App. at 67-68 n.32, 76 n.42, Regnerus “did not actually study individuals reared by same-sex partners” and the journal that originally published his study has since published an audit noting that this fact alone should have precluded any publication of his work. While the State admits that Regnerus’ work “is not conclusive” regarding “same-sex parenting,” Aplt. Br. at 76, its citation to this study at all is misleading.