A Service of Rainbow Law

Three gay-rights bills, all sponsored by Salt Lake City Democrats, cleared legislative hurdles Friday.

The measures, considered long shots, have made it out of the sometimes-bill-blocking House Rules Committee and scored public hearings.

Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck's HB288 -- which would allow unmarried couples, including gay and lesbian partners, to adopt and foster children in Utah -- will be debated Tuesday before the House Health and Human Services Committee.

And the two bills that remain in Equality Utah's four-bill Common Ground Initiative, a legislative push for gay-rights, also are slated for committee hearings.

HB267, sponsored by Rep. Christine Johnson, goes to the House Business and Labor Committee on Tuesday. The bill would make it illegal to fire or evict someone for being gay or transgender.

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee plans to review Rep. Jennifer Seelig's HB160. Her measure would allow unmarried cohabiting adults to sign declarations of "joint support" and gain rights of inheritance and emergency medical-decision making.

"It's wonderful," Seelig said Friday. "I look forward to the discussion in committee."

Gay-rights efforts have come under heavy attack this year from opponents, who worry that granting rights to same-sex couples could put Utah on a "slippery slope" toward legalizing gay marriage. Advocates for gay and transgender Utahns counter that Utah's constitutional amendment banning gay unions would bar that from happening.

Chavez-Houck ran her adoption bill last year, but it died in House Rules without getting a chance for a committee hearing.

"Why aren't your voices being heard?" she demanded at a Capitol rally earlier this week, which drew more than 100 people -- including many gay and lesbian parents -- in support of her bill. Some of them sent valentines to the House Rules Committee.

"I will not give it up," she told the crowd.

Her bill would preserve the preference given to married couples in matters of adoption and foster care, but allow unmarried couples to adopt when the biological parents consent or the children are in state custody.

Current Utah law allows single adults -- gay or straight -- to adopt and foster children.

House Rules Chairman Ben Ferry, R-Corinne, said Friday he thought Chavez-Houck's bill had been in Rules long enough and deserved to go to a committee for a hearing.

This week, Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. voiced support for the Common Ground effort and went further, endorsing civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. On Friday, his spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley, said the governor also supports allowing same-sex couples to adopt and foster children.

Two Common Ground bills already have fizzled at the 2009 Legislature. One that would have given same-sex partners the ability to sue in the event the other suffers a wrongful death died in committee on Day 2 of the session. The other, aimed at repealing a portion of Utah's gay-marriage ban, was withdrawn by its sponsor, Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake City.

rwinters@sltrib.com

Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke contributed to this story.