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Rocky Anderson has been the grand marshal of a gay pride parade. He has raised the rainbow flag over City Hall and delivered rousing speeches about gay rights.
The Salt Lake City mayor recently accepted a post as a "key spokesman" for a new pro-gay-marriage group called Freedom to Marry.
Anderson's duties as a member of the organization's honorary board, known as "Voices of Equality," include helping "end discrimination in civil marriage" and eventually "influence the decision makers," according to a letter asking for his support.
But the national recognition won't help at home, where state Sen. D. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, is sponsoring a bill in the Legislature to prevent the state from recognizing civil unions performed in other states or countries. Utah defines marriage as between a man and woman.
"He's always been for that kind of thing [gay marriage]," Buttars said of Anderson. "He calls that diversity. I call that a perversion."
The senator doesn't expect Anderson's post to generate retribution at the Legislature, where lawmakers have tried to punish the city in the past over Anderson's stances on Legacy Highway, for example. "I don't see any backlash like that. Nor do I see him any more effective in blocking this bill. This bill will pass," Buttars declared.
Anderson is in Washington this week attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Blythe Nobleman, his minority affairs and communications coordinator, said Anderson's involvement with Freedom to Marry is to make "a statement about his position regarding equal human rights. This is a way that he's leading out in the fight for equality for everyone."
New York City-based Freedom to Marry seeks "equal access to civil marriage licenses" according to its Web site.
Anderson was one of the first people asked to be on what amounts to the organization's honorary board, along with the civil rights leader U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia.
The organization plans to add more members.
The duties could include speaking engagements and signing opinion pieces for news media outlets.
Evan Wolfson, the organization's executive director, said in an interview that he heard about Anderson's pro-gay rights stand in 1999 during Anderson's first bid for mayor.
It was a speech Anderson made in August -- during his second mayoral bid -- that led the organization to ask him for help. During a keynote speech to a group of gay advocacy organizations, Anderson criticized the federal "Defense of Marriage Act" for defining marriage as between opposite-sex couples.
"Instead of pushing such polarizing and discriminatory language, leadership demands that we define marriage as a legal, matrimonial union between two people," Anderson told the crowd. "Laws against gay marriage violate constitutional rights to equality and dignity. And, worse yet, they violate the inherent rights of dignity and respect that should be accorded to all. A family consists of who we love -- who we care for."
The mayor has estimated that Salt Lake City has more than 18,000 gay, bisexual or transgendered residents. He said he plans to explore offering benefits to domestic partners of city employees and establishing a city registry for civil unions. He would run into opposition in the Salt Lake City Council.
Wolfson said Anderson may have more cachet outside of Utah.
"In other parts of the country people will be surprised to see the mayor of Salt Lake City [has joined the organization], to know that people in Utah do support equality as well," Wolfson said.