UTAH: Former Lawmaker Apologizes For Anti-Gay History At Confirmation Hearing To Become State Judge

Ben Winslow reports for Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate:

In a hearing filled with uncertainty and a little emotion, a former state lawmaker under consideration to be a judge apologized for past bills that appeared to target the LGBT community. In reality, former Rep. Kraig Powell told the Utah Senate Judicial Confirmation Committee, he was trying to help in the aftermath of court rulings on same-sex marriage. “I am not anti-gay,” he told the committee during his confirmation hearing on Monday.

Powell faced opposition over his nomination to the Fourth District Court by LGBT rights and progressive activists that questioned his impartiality as a judge. Earlier this year, the Heber City Republican ran a pair of bills dealing with same-sex couples following the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling. One actually earned him praise when he sought to make Utah marriage law gender neutral; the other got him scorn when he suggested giving heterosexual couples preference over same-sex couples in adoptions. (Neither bill passed in the legislature.)

“I do understand the concerns expressed by the LGBTQ community over this issue and I’m truly sorry for the offense i caused,” he said, vowing to be impartial as a judge. “I’m sorry that some of my statements about that provision were the source of such pain. I regret having made those statements.” Powell explained that he was trying to be responsive to all constituents in the aftermath of the Obergefell decision, noting that he faced criticism from conservatives for his bills. “I think you were extremely brave,” Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, said of Powell’s approach.

Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, the only openly-gay lawmaker on Utah’s Capitol Hill, said he saluted Powell for trying to make marriage law gender neutral, but said of the adoption bill: “included in that was a poison pill, representative, that would have done great damage to LGBT couples.”

Powell’s attempt to have Utah’s marriage ban removed from the books was fairly well-received here on JMG.