SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A state judge has ordered Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and two state health officials to explain the state’s refusal to recognize a same-sex couple’s adoption.
Third District Judge Andrew Stone ordered the officials to appear at a June 16 hearing to show why they should not be held in contempt for what he called “their willful disregard and refusal” to honor the adoption.
The order, dated May 7, does not identify the child or the two women who adopted it.
The two were among more than 1,000 gay and lesbian partners who married after a federal judge overturned Utah’s same-sex marriage ban Dec. 20.
Those weddings stopped Jan. 6 when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay, prompting the attorney general’s office to maintain adoptions also should be on hold.
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